In the Beginning….
A bit of history….
I decided to start this blog after I was inspired by a friend to share my story. So….
Where to begin? Well, I’m a Pinellas County native, growing up in St. Petersburg. I had a pretty normal life, complete with two parents and a dog. I was in elementary school when I found out I was adopted. I came across some paperwork that was rather interesting. It had my name on it, along with documents from the court showing the finalization of my adoption. No info about my real parents.
Well, that didn’t bother me too much, as I realized that these wonderful people took me in and treated me as their own, and that I could be in a much worse situation. Although I did wonder about my natural parents, I never attempted to find out anything about them.
I was in high school when my mom sat me down and told me about the adoption. Of course, I already knew about it, just not all the details. So she pulled out the paperwork and went over it with me.
I was on-the-wawy-child #7 when my natural father passed away about 4 months before I was born. My natural mother now had seven kids to support, so the two youngest of us were put up for adoption. When she heard about my adoptive parents looking for a baby, she contacted them through a friend, an attorney, who set up the adoption. My adoptive mom never met my natural mom, and didn’t even know her name. All she knew was that I was going to be born here in Pinellas County sometime around the new year mark, 1978-79.
My adoptive parents were so excited, that they adopted me before I was born. The adoption was final in May of ‘79, but my parents took me home at 2 days old. And so I began my life with them, for which I was always be grateful.
Up until my early 20’s, I never did anything to find out about my natural parents, mostly at the behest of my adoptive mother. She always told me that my father would be heartbroken, so I never pursued it.
My adoptive mother died in 1996 – a rather nasty crash that involved all three of us and a friend. Too many bad memories there, so I’m going to skip that for now. But after my mom died, I married and started a family of my own. That’s when I realized that I needed to at the very least get my medical history for the sake of my kids.
So, I hired an attorney to do some research. Turns out that my adoptive parents had the file sealed, and only my adoptive parents could authorize the unsealing. I’m not completely sure how all that works, but… okay….
Well, I got my medical history, which thankfully is practically next to nothing, with the exception of a few food allergies. He also managed to find out some other interesting facts.
A disappointing one was that my natural mother had died about 4 years before I found out all this info. Pretty disappointing there.
I did, however, get the name and address of my older brother, who had also been adopted. He was 2 when he was adopted. Also in Pinellas County, but his family had moved to California. More on that later….
Although the attorney couldn’t release the names of my natural parents, he did tell me I was of Italian decent, and that both of my parents were Jewish. That certainly came as a surprise to me. The family I grew up with was a rather mixed up cadre of religions. My adoptive father grew up Roman Catholic, my mother, Southern Baptist. But they both encouraged me to explore religions and come to my own conclusions.
So after that revelation, I decided to begin the journey and explore my roots. Even though I grew up in a sort-of-Christian household, when I started going to a Christian high school, I always felt at odds with my bible teachers. Something just didn’t feel right until I got to the Old Testament. Something felt right there, and so I started studying religions in earnest, becoming fascinated with the Jewish culture, and feeling a connection there, which only strengthened after my adoptive mother died.
I admit that I floundered for a while, not really sure what I wanted to do. But now that my own kids are growing up, I feel like there’s something there that I want to share with them, a big part of their lives.
So, recently I’ve come to the conclusion that I need to explore my heritage more. So, check back as I update the blog on my journey of discovery. I don’t anticipate it being easy, but I still look forward to it….
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