"Two things really got
me thinking more about the importance of family.
One was that an older brother committed suicide in 1990,
and the other was that my mom got a mother's ring with
more stones in it than siblings I knew about. So I
started questioning her about it and found out she had 2
other children she gave up for adoption. At that
time, I had quite a busy life. A career with
lots of overtime, 2 children still at home (1 multiple
handicapped), as well as taking in my husband's teenage
nephew. So I didn't have much spare time to
dedicate to searching for my 2 unknown sibs.
A couple of years later, mom
got a call that her adopted daughter was looking for
her. It was grand! They met first and then
eventually us kids also met her. She's a great
sister and we still all try to get together at least a
couple times a year even though we live at opposite ends
of the state of Wisconsin.
By 2001, my life was
quieting down. Only 1 teenager left at home and I
had quit my job when we moved our family and my
husband's business. I bought a new PC to handle
the office side of my husband's business, but it
wasn't a full-time job. So I had time to
begin a search using the internet. I used all
sorts of search registries and found quite a number of
helpful people to communicate with over email. Mom
helped by signing letters and filling out forms at
different agencies I found. I began to piece
things together little by little. Without the help
of Kathy, a search angel (and many others) I'd never
have found a contact who had access to the adoption
agency files. Then it was just a matter of her
contacting my brother to get permission to be contacted
by his mother and his siblings. And he agreed.
We all met by phone in November and I went out to
DC to meet him over New Years.
My brother had lost his
adoptive mother a few years earlier and his adoptive
father died in 2003. Now we are his only family.
I'm so glad I gave him that. I know he is
too, because he's been here to visit 4 times already and
in 10 days he is moving to Wisconsin! Things
couldn't have worked out any better."
K.B.
