 March 26, 1994
March 26, 1994
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Who's Your Momma? On March 7, 1994, after nearly 10 years of "off-and-on" searching, I located my birthmother's oldest sister. I called her and when she answered the telephone I found myself hearing the voice of someone with whom I had genetic connections for the very first time in my life. I told her, "I hope you don't mind playing 'twenty questions' with a total stranger, but is your name Lucille?" She said that it was. I then asked if she had a younger sister named Joyce. She said she did. Then I said, "Well, I do believe I am your nephew." She said, "Really?" She used the same tone as if someone had said, "I have a sweater just like that!" "Oh, really?" Then I dropped the other shoe: "Does the date January 24, 1961, mean anything to you?" She tossed the casual tone right out the window at that point. She just kept saying, over and over again, "Oh, yes, oh, yes..." Then I asked the one question I had waited so long to ask: "Is she still alive?" I was half afraid to hear the answer. Lucille took a deep breath and said softly, "Yes, she is." Through a broken voice that surprised me, I asked, "Do you think she'd mind if I gave her a call?" "You'd better let me talk to her first," she said. "I know her husband knows about you but I don't think the three kids do." "THREE?" I exclaimed. I had already discovered that I had an older sister, Becky, whom my birthmother had kept, and a younger brother, dubbed James Michael by the courts, who had been also given up for adoption. This once only child found himself with two more siblings, a sister and a brother. My first conscious thought was that I needed to buy a new Rolodex... Lucille said she was going to visit her parents the following weekend and that Joyce lived near them. She would talk to her then as this wasn't something to discuss over the phone. Let me tell you, that was the longest week of my life! Finally, on Sunday, March 13, 1994, Lucille called me and said Joyce was anxiously awaiting my telephone call. I spoke with Joyce for the first time at three minutes after three in the afternoon. I had already been told that she had an off-the-wall sense of humor like mine so I thought it best to start off things on a light note. When she answered the phone I asked, "Is this Joyce?" She said, "Yes." I said, "This is Charles. I believe you were expecting my call." She began to cry and then she asked me, "Do you hate me?" I answered, "That depends. Are you rich?" She laughed and said, "No." "Then I hate you," I replied. We laughed, cried and talked for nearly three hours. We promptly planned a reunion that took place two weeks later. |
