This is the story about My Reunion with my first-born daughter and if you
haven't read My Relinquishment, then I would recommend that you do
before you read My Reunion!
Jim, my husband of 34 yrs, and Aunt Darlene, my surrogate mom and
myself met Jenny at 11:00am on the 28th of January 2001.
A day that I will never forget! Jim was holding a vase with 35 roses, one
for every birthday that I had missed, and my Aunt was holding the rose I
had decorated for Jennys adoptive mom. I rang the doorbell and Jenny
came to the door. We immediately started hugging... I couldn't let her
go, and she kept saying that I was shaking. I didn't care... I just kept
hugging, and she did too!
Then Jim handed me the vase with the roses and I gave them to Jenny and
she was so overwhelmed that I remembered her every year, especially on
her birthday. Of course I did almost every day of her life unless I just
wanted to put it in file 13 and forget that she even existed!
Her Adoptive mom and dad immediately came to Jennys foyer and I finally
let Jenny go and she started hugging Jim and Aunt Darlene and I could not
let go of her mom and dad.
I kept telling them how much I HONORED them for adopting my little
girl! They were excited that Jenny would have her biological mother in
her life. I was overtaken by their love and acceptance!
I then handed her mother a rose and you would have thought I gave her
Jenny all over again! We are still in the foyer and Jenny tries to introduce
me to her husband, but all I could do was put her precious 35 yr old face in
my hands because I had to look at every detail of her.
Finally her husband Larry gave me the biggest hug and thanked me for
giving him Jenny! Again, I was amazed at the way he felt. We just kept
hugging and I thanked him for taking care of my Jenny while Jim and
Aunt Darlene were hugging Jenny and her parents. I'm sure there was
some talking going on, but I sure didn't hear it. Jenny introduces Chloe' 4
and Macey 2 to me and they both gave me Great Big Hugs and called me
Miss Bonnie and called Jim Mr. Jim.
We made our way into the living room and Jenny and I just couldn't sit
down. We kept hugging and holding each others faces for the longest
time. The first time I truly felt at peace in the last 35 years. Jenny had
a beautiful lunch prepared and everyone ate and I tried to eat, but it was
very hard to keep my hands off Jennys face!
At one point, her mom asked me "will you take your shoes and socks off
so I can see your feet?" I sure was glad I had gotten a pedicure before I
left! Of course, I took them off for her and she asked Jenny to take hers
off too. She said "you two have the same small little feet" and we even put
our hands up together and we have the same small hands!
By this time I was crying of course and then her mom said, "I don't want
to make you cry anymore but when Jenny was a little baby, I would rock
her to sleep singing My Bonnie Lies Over The Ocean!" The tears just
started flowing because her parents had no idea what my name was!
Jenny even remembers her singing that song to her and after I was through
with the shock of the idea that she sang that particular song to Jenny, I
couldn't let her go!
Talk about a flash bulb moment and yes there were 5 rolls of film taken
during our reunion and that many from Jennys camera too. We just
spent the whole afternoon visiting and talking and a lot of hugging
was going on and playing with Chloe' and Macey! They are absolute
DOLLS! Her parents left to watch the Super Bowl Game and then
Larrys parents came to meet me and to have dinner.
We enjoyed spending the evening with them and Larry grilled steaks out
on the grill and Jenny already had everything to go with dinner made the
day before.
We left their home late and went back to my Aunts home and Jenny
wanted me to come back on Monday, but I told her that we both needed
to soak it all in because of the emotions that we both had on Sunday.
Of course, I wanted to see her again on Monday. I knew it was best to
let her soak it all in for the day. We arrived back at my aunts home
about midnight, which was only an hour drive from where Jenny lives!
Tuesday Jim and I drove back up to Jennys home and he had golf plans
already made with Jennys dad for that day, so Jenny and I could spend
some alone time together. I had taken all the pictures of our family and
me and some history of my family and she had all the pictures she had
that her mother had brought over on Sunday.
As soon as we threw a sandwich together for Jim, we scooted him out the
door on his way and Jenny and the 2 girls and I left for Burger King because
of the play land they had. We were there for 2 hours just talking like best
friends and playing with the girls.
From there Jenny drove me to their first home where she and Larry started
their family and then showed me where she use to work. By this time it was
3:00pm and we arrived back at her home and started going through the
pictures and she was so amazed how much she looks identical to one of Jims
and my daughters. Jenny couldn't believe how Chloe', Macey and herself
looked so much like me! I was thrilled that she saw the resemblances
because I didn't want to point anything out to her so she would see for
herself. She did and I was happy about that!
We spent the remainder of the day looking at pictures just like best friends!
Jenny had made reservations for dinner and we met her mom and dad at the
restaurant. We had a wonderful dinner and a lot of talking and by the end of
the night there was more hugging and rejoicing. I think I was still in shock
from the reunion even at this point.
We didn't want to let each other go again and Jenny wanted me to come
back on Wednesday, but again I told her that she and I needed the time to
absorb our day and we both exchanged boxes of pictures so we had the
entire day to go over them by ourselves. I made appointments for Jenny
and myself to have facials together on Thursday. Again, we were just like
best friends having a wonderful day together.
Before we had our facials we ate lunch and talked for about 2 hours
and then off we went to have our facials. This was just too funny and
very relaxing. The women that were giving our facials kept trading
cameras and getting pictures of everything. We were lying down in
2 separate rooms during our facials. Everywhere we went those
3 days together, we had people taking pictures that we didn't even
know, but they were happy to do it.
After Jenny and I had our facials, we were so relaxed that neither
one of us could drive and we went to the lounge and sat there for
about 2 hours talking and drinking sodas. We then felt like we
could drive so we arrived at my Aunt Darlenes at 7:00pm and
Jenny stayed until 9:00pm.
Jim and Aunt Darlene said their goodbyes in the house with a lot of
hugging going on and then I followed Jenny out to her car and we just
couldn't let go of each other and froze our buns off for another 30 minutes.
She is excited to meet her 2 half sisters, which will be in the summer of 2001.
We are emailing each other now and talking on the phone and getting
to know each other slowly. I know I will never replace her mother,
but I can be a very good friend to her.
Her parents adopted her at 2 mos. old when they were 40 and when
they were 42 they adopted a baby boy. Jennys parents are 76 and
in good health and we hope to have a LONG relationship with them!
Bonnie Geddes
