Looking for Lynette

Lynette carried her first child for nine months. She lugged around the memory of the son she placed for adoption much longer.

Lynette was sent away to hide her pregnancy. The Friends Rescue Home proved no more nurturing than her permanent one.

Tragedy had left Lynette’s mother cold and detached. This brought trouble for her daughter, too.

Weeks after my first email to her, Lynette responds to the son she placed for adoption.

My plucky half sister sets me straight on my biological father’s identity and tells me of the brother neither of us will ever meet.

Even amid the wrenching loss of my mother, there was reason for gratitude. And it pushed me to find my birth mother.

My parents prove you don’t need money to be rich. You just need to be committed to hard work … and to find someone committed to you.

With advice from a woman who has received a message from the son she placed for adoption, I penned my own letter to my birth mother.

As I tried to find the words to approach my birth mother, I took advice from a friend who has a compelling adoption story of her own.

I had no urgent desire to find my biological father, but I was curious about him nonetheless. What I found proved unsettling.

A search through genealogical records exposes decades of unthinkable loss for my biological mother and her family.

I open my DNA and adoption records to find stunning news about my biological mother — news that renews doubts about whether I’m doing the ri

Men often put the “crisis” in “crisis pregnancy.” They can also take it away, as my cousin and father lovingly demonstrate.

When I point the finger at the oversexed and irresponsible, three more point back at me, as my relationship with Jessica demonstrates.

I have no ill will toward my biological father. I just feel no obligation to meet him. One reason: Unhealthy male sexual tendencies.