The search begins...

Well, after 15+ years of procrastination and postponements, I'm finally embarking on the biggest search of my life (no, not my feet, I found them last month)...finding my natural parents.

As some of you already know, I was adopted when I was a baby. That means that anyone of you out there could be related to me! Hey, wait! WAIT!! Come back!!! It's only a slim chance, so there's no need to panic!

My parents told me I was adopted when I was about 8 or 9 and I've never had a problem with it. I had a great upbringing, and my parents will always be my parents...I never had an urge to find out who was responsible for bringing me into this world. Hey, they didn't want me, so why should I care?

But as I got older, there started to be some questions raised...big ones like, is there a history of health problems in my family? They were only mere kids (about 21) when they gave me up so they didn't have any notable health issues that they released to the adoption agency. But, as we all know, things pop up as you get older. I'm a big guy (as you can tell by paragraph one), so I need to know...Is there a history of heart disease in the family? Diabetes? What about cancer? Fortunately, I can rule out baldness, although I have recently developed a bit of a widow's peak recently (a pox on you, old age! A POXXXX!!!)

That segues into the next question...are they still alive? They were 21 in 1970 when I was born, so they're only in their mid-50's. But, let's face it, no one's getting any younger and each year that passes increases the likelihood that one of them isn't going to be around. I figure I've waited long enough.

So, what do I expect out of all this? First, I'd really like to meet my dad, since I've probably inherited most of his genetic makeup. But as much as I'm hoping that the two of them eventually married and are still together, the reality is probably that since I was an unwanted child to begin with, the two of them broke up after (or before) I was born and haven't seen each other since. So if I only get to meet my mother, I would be fine with that.

And both my parents warned me about a potential problem...I might be walking into a bad situation where my parents may not WANT to find me. There's always the chance that my mother or father never divulged to their future spouses that there was kid they gave up for adoption in 1970. So you could imagine the shock any one of you would have if you suddenly find out you have an brother or sister that you were never aware of. Or what if it's YOUR spouse who had the kid and you didn't know about it?

But anyway, I'm moving forward and plopping down the $500 search fee at Children's Home Society. I'm promising myself not to get emotionally involved, but it may be inevitable. I'll keep everyone statused on how it goes.