| After my parents had my brother, the doctor said it would be difficult for them to have another child. By the time my brother was 3 years old, they wanted him to have a sister so they applied with the county of San Diego for adoption. They were approved for adoption on February 17, 1971 and were notified of my birth July 1st. After some time in the hospital and a short stay in a foster home, I went to my parents home in September. I have known I was adopted for as long as i can remember. I had a good life and although I had been curious, I never seriously thought of looking for my birth family until I got my first computer. I started surfing the net and one day i entered in the word "adoption" into a search engine. I was amazed at all the people that were searching. At first I only looked to see if anyone was looking for me. Then I started wonderig about my medical history, heritage, who I might look like and if i had any siblings. At this point I started taking my search seriously. The first thing i did was talk to my mom, dad and brother about my search. They gave me encouragement, support and guidance. Then I discovered internet mailing lists, the best way to learn the ins and outs of searching. It was through these lists that i was able obtain from one "angel", my birthname. When i received my non-id info from the county, it includedmy birthmoms age and also the ages of her siblings and parents. With the help of yet more "angels" I found the right family. The next step was locating them. With the help of my brother, i was able to locate my birthmom's address. It was June 1998 and my birthday was a couple weeks away so i decided the best time for my letter to be delivered would be my birthday. A few days before my birthday i composed and sent her a registered letter. not knowing anything about her, i kept the letter very vague and short in case she was married and hadnt told her husband or something. Well, on the night of my bday i received an email that said "i just got your letter and if you are who i think you are then Happy Birthday!" We then emailed and talked on the phone and exchanged pictures. The following month she visited and we got to meet. I also met her family, who didnt know about me until i found her. It was great to finally see people i looked like. We have all grown very close and my birthmom is also in touch with my adoptive parents. When i was able to give my doctor a medical history for the first time, it brought tears to my eyes. When i was 14 years old i had to have my gall bladder removed and the doctor said it had to be heriditary, that was the start of my curiosity. I have since found out that not only did Melinda (bmom) have hers removed at 21 yrs old, but so did her mom. When Melinda was 16 she had a son she also put up for adoption(before me) I always knew i had an older brother, because social services had told my parents. Once i wasin touch with melinda i was able to get enough info to start searching for him. We found out his adoptive name is Scott and i started searching right away. After all the positive results of my reunion, i really wanted to not only meet my half brother, but to share my wonderful experience with him. On 1-17-200 i received a letter from scott. He wa sinterested in contact and had recently started researching his adoption. On 1-26-2000 i spoke with him ont he phone and we had a wonderful conversation. He was livng in arizona and after verifying who i was he opened up. Also after finding Melinda i was able to get enough info on Kenny (birth father)to start searching for him. unfortunately he was killed in a car accident several years before but through a family friend we located his brother and i got to meet Uncle phil, cousin Kim and my half brother josh. I also talked on the phone with my half sisters erica and samantha(I'm an aunt, erica has 4 kids and samantha has one!). I got to hear lots of stories about kenny from them and even received pictures. In october 2000 Scott came to san diego and we finally met. Melinda, Scott, Jan(a friend of his), Xavier and myself all went to knotts scary farm and had a blast!! I also finally spoke with Aunt Jane(kennys sister, kims mom) and she is moving back to the area soon and we will meet soon. I have lost touch with josh, erica and smaantha in the past year. they have moved and i dont have current addresses for them, hope to hear from them again someday. This year on halloween i was married and almost everyone made it out for the wedding. Will post pictures as soon as we get them back from the photographer! |
