by Barbara Fisher

Created on: March 03, 2007   Last Updated: October 31, 2008

Finding My Real Mother

"Occasionally in life there are those moments of unutterable fulfillment which cannot be completely explained by those symbols called words. Their meanings can only be articulated by the inaudible language of the heart." -Martin Luther King, Jr.

Did you ever meet someone accidentally and then discover later that it was no accident at all? That is how it was with Patti and me. I was waiting to get on the elevator at the college where I taught writing, when she got off. We had never met before, but she stopped suddenly and looked at me, and called me by name! I soon learned that she had just read my novel, Stolen Moments, and she recognized me from the picture on the cover. I was very pleased as she told me how she loved my book, and how it had touched her heart. Little did I know that Patti also had a true story of her own that would not only touch my heart, but perhaps live in it forever.

Patti was born in Germany to a very young, unmarried woman.
The woman also had two other children, both boys. Although her mother loved this new baby, she was financially unable to feed and clothe her, so she only held her little girl one time after she was born. Within days both the baby and one of her little brothers were taken to an orphanage. The mother intended to get a job, and when she had enough money to take care of her family, she would bring them back home with her. For one reason or another, "enough money" never materialized.
At some point her mother had told the people at the orphanage that she couldn't come up with money, and that if her children were adopted, she wanted them sent to the United States so they would have a better chance for a good life. But she still struggled day and night to raise the much needed funds.
The orphanage never told Patti's biological mother, but they found a couple in the States that was willing to take both children. The mother never got a chance to see her babies or tell them good-bye. At age two,
Patti, and her three-year-old brother were put on a plane by themselves, to fly to the United States to their new family. Here they were adopted and raised by a very loveable and caring couple. She said a few years after she was adopted, the orphanage contacted her adoptive parents to tell them there was still another little boy in the family, and asked them if they wanted him, too. They declined.
Patti and her biological brother were always very close. She told me, "It was like we were one and the same person.

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