All They Want For Christmas

Almost sixty-two years ago, in the early hours of one morning, a young nineteen year old unwed woman gave birth to her first
child…a boy.

She spent most of her pregnancy in a home for unwed mothers as her father would not, as he said, allow a bastard child in his
house.

She was uneducated and unable to provide even the basic needs for herself yet alone for her newborn child. She did what she
thought would be best for him. She placed him lovingly for adoption within hours after his birth.

She wished for him the best; a loving, nurturing, stable family and a home to call his own.

Instead he spent the first year of life in a hospital nursery and also the nursery of the same home for unwed mothers his mother
had spent her pregnancy. Despite being a white, blond, hazel eye, healthy baby, no one came forward to adopt him…he was
NOBODY’S
Child!

Those first days in a nursery turned out to be eighteen years of being moved from one foster home to
another or institution; fifteen moves by age eleven.

During those years he would attend many schools, never having long time friends. He at a time would find his bed on a back porch
and be forced to steal food from other children at school to dampen his hunger pains from being fed only one meal a day. He would
face the horror of sexual abuse at the tender age of ten.

Each Christmas, as he heard the carol, “All I want for Christmas” he would change a few of the words so his birth mother’s wish for
him would become a reality.

All I want for Christmas is a Mom and Dad to call my own! That this would be the Christmas a family would adopt him and call him
son! His wish never became a reality. Christmas, the most joyous time of the year for children, became a time of anguish and pain
for this boy. The pain continues even now.

He aged out of the system at eighteen, thrust out into the world whether he was ready or not.

Somehow, with the help of a few mentors, hope and a deep inner faith this baby boy was able to overcome the years of his
childhood. He received a college education and began a professional career.
At age of thirty-one he suffered a massive heart attack. He could not answer the doctor’s question of;

“What’s your family medical history?” He was embarrassed and ashamed for as far as he knew…he
still had no family to call his own.

He began a search for the person who he thought would be able to provide some answers…the mother who lovingly relinquished
him years earlier.

The search took four long years. It was a painful, trying and at times a frustrating journey as he met
numerous obstacles along the way.