There are a lot of people in the world who grew up without their birth parents. Some people live in foster care for their entire childhood, others get pulled through the system till they turn 18 and some lucky ones get adopted by loving families.
My mother experienced all three of these situations. She was born in Florida and wasn't adopted until the age of 12. When she was adopted, it was by two loving and stable people who I had the honor of knowing as my grandparents. She had been through many trials and was the victim of abuse. My grandparents helped her heal from the trauma of her childhood with their love and patience.
She changed her name and lived with them for seven years in Howland, Ohio. In 1991, she met my father and at the age of 18 she became pregnant with me. Shortly after I was born she moved from my grandparents home and started her own life.
Years have gone by since she was taken from her biological parents home and she has only ever heard rumors about her parents whereabouts. Her mother, who is not a good person, signed her rights to my mother over to the state of Florida while my grandfather was in a treatment facility recovering from PTSD from being in the Vietnam War. My biological grandmother still resides in Florida and has never made an attempt to contact my mother.
My mother has always been in touch with the sisters she knew she had, all of whom were separated and dispersed throughout the country, because of the efforts made by the many families who adopted them.
Growing up without this mysterious part of my family was hardly a problem for me because I was never lacking in family support, but as I've gotten older, I have wondered about my ancestry and what these people must be like.
As an adult, you start to think about practical things, like medical history and whether or not you have a chance of having twins some day. My curiosity also runs deeper than that, as a literary person. I wonder about their characters and stories. I wonder about the pain they have felt during their lives and what moments of joy they hold dear to their hearts.
Very recently something amazing happened that resembled a plot from a Lifetime original movie. Through the connecting power of Facebook, my mother's biological paternal uncle and aunts found her and contacted her. We discovered that they all live in Hocking Hills and have been looking for my mother, who they still refer to as "Mary Ann," all of her life. Her father lives there too and is now a minister. They have begun the long road to establishing a relationship with her and want to get to know all of her children and grandchildren, including me.
Overnight, I went from having no living grandparents to having not only a paternal grandfather, but an 85-year-old great-grandmother. I have numerous aunts and uncles, both immediate and great, as well as, loads of cousins. The whole experience is so surreal and has been emotional for all of us. I am looking forward to meeting them soon.
The family that took my mother in when she was abandoned and broken will always be considered my family and I have cherished childhood memories with them that I will never forget. Coming from a broken family has always been a theme in my life and has impacted me in many ways, some good and some bad, but there has always been love to get us through.
I've done some snooping on the internet to get a better picture of what these people are like and they seem pretty wonderful. Now, my mother has a chance to reconnect with people who love her and I am so happy for her. I'm also excited about gaining new family for myself because, in my mind, nothing is more important in life than family. This is the beginning of something great, I can just feel it. The universe works in mysterious ways.
