This is a true love story.
She had waited 64 years for this to happen.
When Mom graduated from high school in May of 1950 she found that she was pregnant. If this were today, that would not be an unworkable situation... but in 1950 things were very different.
Mother's parents, particularly her mother, were very supportive... Mom ended up going to a wonderful place in Cleveland, OH that provided a place not only to have her child, but was one of the best agencies in the United States for arranging adoptions. After her little girl was born, she named her Robin, held her for a couple of hours... and then gave her to the attendants, kissing her gently on the forehead goodbye, for what she supposed was the last time. She was not worried about a stigma that would be placed on her, but on her child. Adoption was the kindest thing that she could do for her daughter.
Mom thought through the years wondering on her daughter's birthday what they were doing, what her first day of school was like... all of the things a mother would think about concerning her child.
As it turned out Robin was adopted by a wonderful, kind, extremely loving family who had a beautiful farm. She grew up in the best of circumstances, surrounded by a large extended family... lots of uncles, aunts, grandparents and cousins, dogs, cats, even a donkey to ride! But she was always curious about who her mother was, what she was doing, what sort of life she had. They were both wondering the same thing.
How we got to this point is immaterial. What happened last Tuesday is that Mom and I flew to Cleveland... and this picture that you see was taken in the first 30 seconds of them embracing one another... after a 64-year hiatus. Both were afraid that they would be crying... overcome with emotion, but the sheer joy of this reunion left them both laughing, smiling, and giggling.
Robin's mother passed away a few years ago, but we spent time with her father, enjoyed seeing his farm, going out to eat... in general just getting to know one another. How lucky she was to have been adopted by such wonderful people. And mother also gained a grandson who she will get to meet later this summer, a phenomenally talented young man who lives in Europe.
The week before we were going to Cleveland, Mom made the following comment to me: "This is the closing of a circle in my life that I had never dreamed would happen." Tears trickled down both sides of her face as she said this...
As you can tell from the look on both of their faces, this is a dream that they both had...the circle is now unbroken, the circle is complete, the circle is now tightly forged, not to be broken again.
All I can say here is, "Thanks... Thanks Be To God!"