Jerry Knight was 70 years old when he discovered that he had a daughter who was given up for adoption as a baby. During a HuffPost Live segment on the biological parents' perspective of adoption, Knight and his newly reunited daughter Patrician Ann Knight Meyer shared how they came to find each other, and how their relationship has blossomed since.
For Meyer, the journey began with tracking down her birth mother as an adult. "I was very surprised when I was able to locate my birth mother after just about two months of searching," she told host Nancy Redd. "And through her, it took about a year and a half for her to search through her memories and process the past--to get to a point where she was able to find the answers and to come up with even a name for my pop, Jerry."
Meyer was conceived during a one night affair between her birth parents. Though the news was as much of a surprise to Jerry Knight, he was ecstatic to learn he had a daughter. "I had always wanted a daughter. Even my wife and I discussed adopting at one time. But when this happened, it was as though someone had handed me another child. It was as though she was born again on that day."
"It surprised me that he didn't know," Meyer said. "But honestly, as an adoptee, I think we spend so much time thinking about finding our birth mothers, I hadn't even put a lot of thought into the fact that I might find a birth father and a family on his side as well. I think that speaks to the whole idea that, in general birth, fathers just completely get left out of the loop. I mean, even by their own biological children sometimes."
While not all adopted children decide to search for their birth families, connecting with her biological parents has given Meyer a sense of closure. "There is a huge missing piece and chunk out of your life until you can reconnect with the people who gave you life and who you are biologically connected to. It has changed my life so much, to not have that gaping hole in my heart anymore."