Searching for my birth-……………
Born…………
In……………hospital and given up for adoption.
My name at that time was………………….
Age……
Please help me by sharing this!
We’ve all seen them. Photos posted here and there; a smiling face that beams with hope yet masks one more sad story of separation as they hold up a poster with details of the person they long to find.
In my own years of searching, of always wondering, I could never quite bring myself to take such a giant forward step. Instead, I silently admired those who made their valiant quests so very public on various social media sites. Sure, my name and other data was out there in cyberspace, posted on one or two choice reunion sites and I shared my story here on this blog. Public enough, at least for me. It seemed, well…safer, protected in some way from judgmental eyes, people with no clue about my circumstances or those who probably didn’t give a damn. Instead, almost three years ago, I chose to write about that empty spot in my life mostly to acknowledge the person involved and leave an honest record behind for my family. And, yes, there was my hope the trail of information might someday lead to that slim chance of a reunion.
Oh boy, did it ever!
Two weeks ago, while at work, that remotest of possibilities took place with some help from Facebook’s private messaging. You know, that little window that pops-up when one of your inner-circle friends on the site shares something not meant for all to see? Well, there it was, in the “Other” folder and I almost…almost ignored it! Suddenly, there was my maiden name, photos of a scanned document that I immediately recognized along with some messages. My dear friend, Traci, was standing nearby and I yelled to her as I sat in disbelief, afraid that it was a mistake. We both choked back tears as I kept staring at the screen and, in the span of a few seconds, there was an immediate connection as the name in the message window became real again; after 47 years, my birth son found me!
Amazing, isn’t it?
So, where do we go from here, is what you might be thinking…right? The answer is, we (Andrew and I) are moving forward. Talking, messaging and getting to know each other as friends before we re-unite as family. For me, the opportunity to explain, to find no anger from my birth son for the painful decision I made long ago, to enjoy the support of my family, well, it’s the best possible gift. I sit back and watch the comments fly on Facebook, enjoying so many similarities in the conversations that we all share. Love it or hate it, the social media platform has paved the way for so many people to re-connect and situations like mine are the proof…an absolute positive.
The most important part of all this are the two people who have been, and will always be, Andrew’s parents. All I did was to introduce him to this universe, they gave him what I was unable to all those years ago; they loved someone else’s child as their own.
And I thank them!
