Miracle...Chance Meeting?

As a child, I remember how frustrating is was to be "different" from my friends. A few of them were, at the time I thought to be "lucky" enough to have separated or divorced parents that competed for their love, showered with gifts and all sorts of fun things. Being adopted at birth, I still struggled with the issues of not knowing who my natural mother was. It seemed very important to me to have answers to these basic questions...Who is my natural mother? What does she look like? What kind of person is she? These unanswered questions began to frustrate me and left me to my imagination, resulting in a lot of unnecessary anger.

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My adoptive parents were very open and up front with my adoption, and were very helpful with providing as much information (as) they had. I now know just how amazing my adoptive parents are, and realize how blessed I am to have been loved, taught and guided by them. I would love to share them with you, but that would distract from this short story.

I grew up knowing of my adoption, and secretly thought that my natural mother would come and find me, completing the "unnatural" course of my life. This never happened, and it would be thirty-three years until I think something happened. My older brother and sister, brother Raymond Judd now deceased, were also adopted, and shared a lot of these feelings. My older sister, Hillary Margaret, constantly looked for her natural mother, on the internet, magazines and just about anywhere she could. She too knew her parents names and searched where she could for some kind of "match". Four years ago, while on vacation with her husband in Washington, she was in the room of a local hotel. While waiting for "Jack" to finish getting ready, she pulled out the phone book to see if there was a match. Her natural last name is one of difference, and is not commonly found.

Surprisingly, she found a match for the last name, but the first name was a male. Having a little time, she decided to call the number. An older man answered, and she struggled with whether or not to stay on the line. She decided to try to explain to the older man her "quest".

She began by explaining her adoption, and giving her natural mothers name, and the coincidence of his last name in the phone book. She apologized for the silly question of whether or not he had a daughter.

After a brief silence, he asked her birth date. She gave him her birth date, and there was a long ensuing silence. After what seemed to her to be five minutes, he responded.

"My daughter has eight children", all with her current husband, "but your birth date is before they were married, and would be impossible for her to be your natural mother".

My sister, realizing the impossibility of a "match", apologized for disturbing him, and thanked him for his time. After what seemed (like) five minutes of silence, the older man asked her for her hotel telephone number, as he would call his daughter "just for fun".

She gave him her telephone number, and thanked him again. She hung up the telephone, realizing the actual remote chance of this being her natural mother would be a miracle. She finished packing her bags to leave.

As she packed, she secretly thought how coincidental it was that the same name was in the phone book; it was right there! It couldn't be that easy, just opening up the phone book, for the thousandth time, and actually having a match! Then, for the older man to look into it and ask her for her number! Wow, what if this was fate? What if this would be the match she had been searching for over the last thirty-seven years...? She became very excited, and the tension was building as she began to explain the phone call to her husband, Jack.

Just as the two of them decided that it was too coincidental, ten minutes had passed, (and) the phone rang. She had never heard such an urgent ring from a phone, so urgent and full of rrrriiiiinnnnggggg, that she did not want to answer it. On the third ring, she picked it up.

It was the older man again, this time his voice was excited, and he seemed to be struggling for words. He began by explaining to her that his daughter, while very young and before she was married, became pregnant. Her boyfriend at the time seemed (uninterested) in marriage, was extremely involved with his career and unable to commit to such a large responsibility.

She was determined to have the baby, and set out on her own, without sharing her pregnancy with anyone. All of this was new to the older man, and having just heard it all himself only moments ago, was struggling to carry on the conversation, mostly because it was occurring to him that he may just be on the telephone with his eldest granddaughter!

Not helping matters was the fact that my sister could barely breathe; she was so excited, relieved and anxious to find out if all this could really be true. The older man continued, saying that his daughter decided to have her baby put up for adoption, keeping it a secret, telling no one, not even her family...until ten minutes ago, thirty-seven years later. (You can imagine the surprise from "her natural mother", having her father call her with all of this, and then giving the birth date...)

After a twenty minute phone call, it turns out that the older man on the phone is indeed her grandfather, and the biggest miracle of all happened...she had found her birthmother! My sister could not stay in Washington for long and set up a time in a week when she would return. It seems there was a family reunion already planned for the next week. (Talk about fate!) She wanted to sit with our parents, share the news with them, and have them come to the reunion with her.

At the reunion, she would find that her natural father eventually married her birthmother, and they had eight children over the years! My sister had eight siblings...all her little brothers and sisters, and many other cousins, aunts and uncles! I have looked at the pictures, and it is very WEIRD to look at all of these people that look identical to my sister!

About the same time, probably a few months later, I was at work, in the middle of a meeting with some associates. I am a chef/restaurateur, for a very successful and well known "Celebrity Chef". I had moved to Florida, to open a restaurant for him, that received a lot of media exposure around the country and the world. We were still in the first year of business in the restaurant, which is always very chaotic and busy, not to mention the long hours...normally 16 to 18 a day.

I was interrupted from my meeting by one of the floor managers, who said there was someone that needed to speak to me. I replied that I was busy and would they be able to come back later, or have someone else speak to "them". The manager said that there was a group of people waiting, and there was a crying woman with them, and they needed to speak to me. It was very confusing to me, and annoying at that point, as my day was slowly developing into one of those stressful ones. I nodded to my associate, with an apologetic roll of my eyes, and walked toward the front of the restaurant.

When I arrived to the front of the restaurant, which is 22,000 square feet, I saw a group of people waiting, all of which were intently looking at me walking towards them. I began to feel strange and uneasy about what this situation was all about. There was a woman kind of in the center of all of the other people, about 10 in all, and when I walked up, she began to cry uncontrollably. I thought it strange that everyone around her was smiling, and a gentleman next to me, when I looked at him, was beaming with happiness. This was really weird for me, and I thought it to be a prank, or some kind of an act.

Looking around, while this continued for an eternal 3 or 4 minutes, I saw that there were no cameras, and whatever this was all about, it was contained to this woman and the 10 people around her...all still smiling as she cried hysterically, and in-between, glancing at me. I did not know what to say, what came out was, "I'm sorry, was the food that bad?".

No one responded to me; she just seemed to laugh/cry even more. I nervously said, "I can make something else, and package it to go, if you like".

The gentleman said something to me like, "she gets this way sometimes; it's o.k.". I really don't remember what he was saying to me, because the whole event was so bizarre and surreal to me. Even now, as I remember it, it was so weird and nonsensical.

Well, I stood there for a few more minutes, as the 10 people coaxed the woman out the front door...smiling the whole way out. I felt like I had just seen a space ship...speechless, and did not know what to think about any of it all. I finally turned and went back to where I was having my meeting and sat down. I ran through the event in my mind, and it made no sense. I have been in the restaurant business for fifteen years, and never had something remotely like this happen to me.

Suddenly, I thought about my "secret" search for my birthmother...it seemed to make sense then. Yes, it put the entire event in perspective...I quickly got up and ran outside, finding that they all had left. I ran to the parking lot, and there was no sign of them. They had gone...

I have tried many times to find my birthmother, each ending with failure. I am thirty-five years old now, and I am fearful that I may never have the chance to meet her, look into her eyes, and thank her for her strength as a woman, and to believe in her maternal instincts. That is scary to me...

Her name is Linda Louise Bailey. I was born in Los Angeles, California, June 22, 1966, at the Queen of Angels Hospital. There was a fire in the hospital, which destroyed every document inside, relative to my adoption. My father's name is James Riddle. They were not married and never did get married. My natural mother is from Canada, where her father owned a textile manufacturing plant. This is all I know about her.

These are two events, both I believe to be miracles, and one to have a truly happy ending. My sister, Hillary Margaret, is very much a part of her new "old" family, and my younger sister and parents support her with her quest to be a part of her other family. I only hope that one day I will be as fortunate as she and be able to find my birthmother. Being able to spend just a little time with her, to share my life, and to thank her for making it all possible, with her resolve to have me...

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