Finding the Tree..Years Away from the Apple

Big news! My mother wrote away for my nonidentifying birth records (the court documents that were prepared surrounding my adoption that have all the important details like names, addresses, etc. blacked out). They arrived in the mail last week.

Hearing my mother read them to me over the phone was a surreal experience. As I have told many a friend, I learned more about myself in thirty minutes than I have in 39 years. I also discovered that I likely look just like my birth father, whose description described me in every detail, though I think he was shorter than I. My biological mother, God bless her, had five kids before me (talk about stretch marks!), and when I came along she was twenty-two and divorced. Everyone always thinks that I seem like an only child, but that's merely because I'm spoiled.

In all seriousness, it sounds like she had a pretty difficult life, although in today’s world having 14 kids is apparently no big deal, so what’s six, right? My birth mother was quoted in the court documents as wanting to give me up “so it will have a chance”—pretty unselfish. I know my parents and I are all grateful to her.

Since the Universe has put all this into motion for me, I think I am about to embark on the most challenging journey of my life. I'm glad I don't have to do it alone! Wish me luck.