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I have an insane story. My mother gave birth to me when she was 17. She was sent away to a 'home' once she was discovered to be pregnant so she never got to tell my father she was even pregnant. After I was born, she was tricked into letting her mother, my grandmother, adopt me and then promptly forced her out. My grandmother was bi-polar and a habitual liar. I was raised to believe she was my mother. The lies eventually broke down and I learned some of this, but no where near the whole story. I knew I was adopted but was told my birth mother abandoned me. As I grew older I suspected the lies but no one in my family would ever tell me everything. After a truly horrible 18 years, I got free. I met a wonderful woman and everything changed. I became a father myself. Life was good. I had excepted not knowing.
A couple of years ago I got an email that changed everything. My half-brother found me on myspace and reached out to me. It turns out I had two half sisters as well. My birth mother had not abandoned me. I was told the truth. I was shocked. I still had to deal with my grandmother though who was in a managed care facility. Once she died, I decided it was time I found my father. I confronted my birth mother. She was only able to tell me the story above, and that I was named after my father, though she could not remember his last name. I knew the school they attended together and the time they were there. After a few hours of research, I had a last name. I had his current address. I had an email address. I waited not knowing what to do.
So I emailed him, asking if he knew my mother and that I was looking for my father. I never got anything back. I did a number of DNA tests. I had no close relatives found. I waited. Ancestry allowed me to build a tree but I had no fathers side to compare to. A year passed. I did more research. I became more and more convinced I had the right guy. I wrote a long letter explaining everything. I offered to pay for a DNA for him. I just wanted to know if he was my father. I told him even if he wanted no contact I would be fine with that, but I just wanted to know. I got no response. Then on a whim, I added him as my father in the Ancestry tree. I traced his line back hundred of years. At the same time, ancestry started linking member trees to DNA results. I found a match. A DNA relative popped up that had the same relatives in it when compared to my fathers lines. I have over 80 now that show direct links to distant relatives. I have waited another year. I'm tired of waiting.
I don't know what to do. I can be at his front door in 1 hour. I want to go. But after trying to contact him twice before I am afraid. From what I can tell, he has no other children. Not knowing if he ever got my email or letter, or if he got them and ignored them is horrible. My wife said I should try an intermediary, but I have no idea who I could get. Does anyone have any advice?
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