About a year ago I was looking for a job and one of my old friends was talking to me on facebook and offered me a job as her assistant. She worked to reunite people and needed someone to do some of her leg work etc. Well it was just after I had gotten my 5th part time job, so I said that as much as I would love to do it, that there would be too much on my plate. I told her that this was a thing close to my heart, since I was adopted and always wanted to find out my birth story. She told me she understood why I couldn't help her out right now but if I gave her my information that she would look for me for free..... that was Oct. and I really didn't think about it any more.
Then came that night... I had worked late and was really tired. It was the Fri. of Memorial day weekend and I would be working all weekend. I signed onto facebook and had checked all the important information of the day, harvested all my crops, played and feed my pets, and played a round or 2 of cards. My friend popped up on chat and said she had some news, she believed that she had found my birth family and if it was ok could they call me?
WOW WOW WOW..was all I could say.
The cell phone rang and a woman named Lilly Clarke was on the other end. (Normally I wouldn't give out all the information that I am about to.... but if you follow this story you will see why I have). She was crying and hard to understand at first. She told me that she was married to my birth brother Joshua and that he had been looking for me all his life.... the following may seem disjointed and scattered... but it was 12 am and it's been a few months since this call. My feelings and emotions and the things I've discovered since then may also get in the way, so the question is how to relay this call to the reader.... here I go.
Lilly told me that my mother was Patricia and had named me Patricia after herself. That when my mother was 16 she was in love with my father and he had been drafted and was being sent to Vietnam. He was sent to California for boot camp and Patricia followed him there. She became pregnant and both of their families demanded that she return home and place me up for adoption. My "parents" didn't want to, but did any way and had always loved me.... footnote - I can understand why their parents would not want to Patricia to keep me... they had probably been through WWII and the soldiers didn't come home and raising a baby alone would be hard.
Patricia returned home and gave birth to me ... and placed me up for adoption.
Her story continues (according to Lilly), My father returned from "conflict" and they married. They loved each other very much and had 2 more children. Lilly told me that I had a brother named Joshua (her husband) and one named Daniel. As they were growing up, they prayed for for me everyday at dinner and were looking for me since my fathers return from Vietnam. They always loved me and wanted to meet me.
Let me tell you what Lilly said about "my family". Patricia married my father and had lived in New Jersey. My father had died in 1987 from causes I wasn't told. She had remarried and was a church secretary living in Lebanon PA (about 45 minutes from here) married to a pastor. They were Christians and according to Lilly, Patricia was sometimes overboard with her faith.
Joshua was married to Lilly and lived in Dayton Ohio, He's a high school teacher at a christian school and the youth leader at their church. They had children... but I don't remember what she said about them. Joshua had been on mission trips and was a very devoted Christian. Lilly told me that on their first date, Joshua told her that there was one thing in his life that would be more important than the woman he would marry, that would be to find his birth sister Patricia. They had spent thousands of dollars looking and couldn't believe that they had found me...
Daniel was a red head and lived on Marthas Vineyard in Mass.... He was a bit wild and funny and interesting to be around.
This conversation went on for almost 2 hrs. I was told that I was Irish and German. And I waited to talk to another family member. Lilly told me that they were all visiting Patricia for the holiday and wanted to meet me as soon as possible, even if they had to stay there for a month. Lilly and Joshua were staying at an Aunt's house since there wasn't enough room in Patricia's home for the entire family. Joshua had driven over to to tell his mom in person that they had found me. He had wanted to do it in person since she had some health/heart issues. I told them that I would love to meet them I just had to adjust my schedule. She asked me not to break their heart, I told them I would never. She asked if I was mad at them for "giving me up" I told her "by no means". My daughter was up with me for most of the time and when I needed to process some of the information I would hand off the phone to her (hey blabs... if you want to add any information I forgot... please add it in the comment box). I was an very emotional and exciting phone call. Then I noticed that my cell phone was going dead. I tried to tell Lilly that I needed to start charging it and it might go dead, however.. she was talking and may not have heard me. I plugged in my phone just as it went dead. I looked at the number that called and it was "restricted"... I waited a little bit but she didn't seem to call back. It was 2am so I went to bed... but not to sleep and was sooooo excited about what could happen that weekend.
The next morning I looked at the phone... Lilly had tried to call back 2x, but when my phone was still too dead to receive it. Now what?... would she call again? would they think I was upset and didn't want to meet them, that I had all the information I wanted? did she think I hung up?
Was this for real???????????????
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