There's an old saying "you have to know where you came from to know where you're going". This week, I will decide for myself if that saying is really true. Eighteen years ago, I was adopted into the most wonderful family anyone could ever ask for. My birth mother and her family have always kept contact, sending me beautiful gifts and letters on my birthdays and holidays. I never knew that the woman that was sending me all of these gifts was my birth mother until I was thirteen years old. My adoptive mother didn't tell me that Sharon was in fact my birth mother until I was a teenager because the the adoption agency told her that it wasn't uncommon for birth mothers to send their children gifts and suddenly stop. She was trying to protect me from getting hurt..but I never got hurt. The letters and gifts never stopped coming.
When I was sixteen, I met Sharon for the very first time. I was finally able to have so many questions answered that I'd been wanting to ask her for sixteen years. Sharon was only sixteen years old when she gave birth to me. My birth father, John, was the same age as her. After I was born, John and Sharon stayed together for over a year. After they broke up, they lost contact. I didn't know my birth father's name until I met Sharon. As soon as I learned his name, I started searching for him, and didn't stop searching for two years.
Here I am, just a few days before flying to West Virginia to meet my biological family, and we discover where John's family lives. Believe it or not, John's sister lives only 3 miles away from Sharon. I was shocked at this. After two years of searching, he was so close to Sharon, and we never even knew it. Yesterday, I talked to John and his family for the first time. It was life-changing. In less than three days, I will be meeting not only my biological family on Sharon's side, but also, John's side of the family. I couldn't be more thrilled.
