The Phone Call
On the evening of May 9, 2000, I received a phone call. The woman on the other end identified herself and the adoption agency she was with. She asked me if the date 12/16/68 meant anything to me. My heart started pounding as I answered "yes." I don’t remember much of the conversation – my heart was beating so hard I could hardly concentrate. She told me that my daughter was searching for me. She said it didn’t take long to find me. There was a letter in my daughter’s file from my mother – a letter she wrote 31 years ago. My mom wanted her granddaughter to know that she wasn’t given up because she wasn’t loved. Mom’s name and address was on the letter, so the adoption agency had no problem locating mom. The agency called mom and asked for me. Mom said, "Oh, you must have known LeeAnn a long time ago, as she moved to Lexington several years ago." Mom didn’t know who the lady was, but gave her my phone number.
The agency gave me a little information on my daughter and told me her name is Shonda and she lives near Columbus, Ohio. I was given Shonda’s phone number and asked if I would call her. I said I would love to call her, but I couldn’t do it that night. I was just too emotional and wanted to be sure I settled down so I could be coherent when I talked with her. I told her that she could give Shonda any information about me that she wanted. No more secrets.
After we hung up, I told my husband about the phone call. He took me in his arms, and I cried so hard. All the emotions from the past 31-1/2 years came to surface – the sadness of giving up my baby, and the joy of knowing she is well and alive. AND, I was going to be talking to her! I was a nervous wreck. Needless to say, I didn’t sleep much that night.
The next evening around 7:00 pm, I went into the bedroom, closed the door, and picked up the phone. I was shaking. The phone rang several times before this sweet voice said, "hello." I said, "Shonda?" She said, "Yes." I said, "This is LeeAnn." She kept saying, "Oh my God, oh my God!" I heard my daughter's sweet voice for the first time! It was so hard to keep my emotions under control, but somehow I managed. We talked for awhile and she told me a little about her life. She has a daughter, Rachel, who was 11. In the background I heard a young voice say, "Hi, grandma!" What a beautiful sound! She asked about me and about her birthfather. I told her everything I could, as honestly as I could.
She wanted to come to Lexington to meet me. We made plans for that following Friday, and I told her I would call her back the next evening and we could make plans. Well, I was so caught up with having talked with my daughter that I forgot that Friday was our anniversary and we were going out to eat with friends. What was I going to do? I didn’t want to disappoint my daughter, but I didn’t think it was fair to my husband to cancel our plans. I tried to work something out where she could meet us at the restaurant or we could meet afterwards, but it just wasn’t going to work. She said it was fine, we could meet another time. I told her I was going to Indiana to visit my mother the following weekend and would she like to meet at my mom’s house. That way she could meet mom also. She said that would be great. So we made plans to meet at Mom's house on Sunday.
Go to the next page for our reunion.
