The feelings I had experienced during the next month are hard to describe. I felt sad thinking about how my natural mother suffered the loss of a child in her life. I was devastated that through others she was the kind of person she was and not as I had imagined her. I grieved about the kind of life she and I could have but did not have. I was frustrated and upset knowing I would never find the answers to the questions still unanswered. I grieved for my adoptive parents and the pain that I may have caused her by searching and reuniting with my... more

The five stages of reunion healing go hand in hand with the five stages of grief.

I had searched for my natural family for 2 years before I found a grave. It was a bitter sweet time for me. I felt relief as I found my natural mother after my long and frustrating search. After standing at her grave on that cold winter day I tried to resume to my life as if nothing had happened at all. There were some powerful emotions brewing inside me during this time. It is this time period that I was denying that I had found a grave and denied that... more