Few people ask me about the difference in my relationships with my sons, one who was adopted from Guatemala and one who is biological. I think most people feel like the subject matter is too personal, but for me, it's not.

This summer, a close friend asked me, straight up, if I loved my biological kid more than my adopted one. I was surprised but impressed by the question.

"More? No. Differently? Yes," I said.

I went on to explain it was like having two glasses filled to the top with your two favorite beverages. It was a quick comparison, and for the months following her question, I created another metaphor that better explains what it's like parenting an adopted and a biological child.

I call it "Old Friend vs. New Friend."

My biological son is, indeed, like an old friend. He feels like someone I have known forever, maybe even in a previous lifetime. I usually understand his behavior (even if I don't like it) and can often finish his sentences. I know him like I know the wallpaper in my childhood bedroom. And yet, he is his own person, and not like me at all at times.

My adopted son is like a new friend -- the rare kind that I instantly click with. It takes more observation to know this person, but as he unfolds before me, I realize how much we have in common and marvel at what he has that I could never have given him genetically. He's the new friend I want to be around all the time and learn everything I can about.

There are so many ways that old friend and new friend are the same. Old friend likes to draw and write in workbooks like I did as a kid, but new friend is lively and social like I am as an adult.

Both friends took time to love. Old friend emerged from my body, but it was only over time that I fell in love with him. And new friend traveled from faraway and saved me from a sad space, but it was only over time that I fell in love with him, too.

This makes me think of the proverb "Make new friends but keep the old, one is silver and the other is gold." I would, however, slightly amend this. To me, both old friend and new friend are golden.