Now it’s time to do a little footwork.
Footwork is an important part of the whole search process. It includes things like library visits, visiting places that were involved in the adoption process, such as hospitals, lawyer offices, etc.
My footwork was a little different.
We took the male’s name off my relinquishment papers and my searcher, Bret cross-referenced the name to see if any other names linked with it.
Sure enough, we came up with a woman named Linda R. She was linked to him in a couple of places, which means they purchased property together, or co-signed together on a loan, etc.
Using this woman’s name, Bret ran her through a database that pulled up two known locations where a Linda R. lived. Both addresses were in the Houston area, close to each other, though one was in Magnolia.
I was so excited, and nervous and unsure of what to do with the information. I had no idea who the male was that was listed on the papers, and due to false information provided in the papers (they lied about my birth mother’s age), we thought it might be her brother.
Approximately two weeks after I got this information, I was able to travel to Houston to do our footwork.
Terrie my birth mother friend in Houston, welcomed us with open arms and became my best friend during this time. She was so supportive and carted us all over Houston to check out all the locations we wanted to see.
First stop was the easiest – the address where my biological mother lived when she was pregnant with me. It was on the hospital records. I took photos, and we found the exact apartment. Obviously we did not go in, but standing outside the door, gave me a sense of closeness to her – knowing that once she was inside.
From there we left and Terrie took us to Heights Hospital, the hospital where I was born, which is really no longer in use as a regular hospital. But it was open and we did go in, and unfortunately it has changed SO much that we were unable to find the room numbers that corresponded with my hospital records. We took pictures outside instead.
And then I wanted to see the attorney’s office. We went to the building but it was falling apart, and was apparently not in use, and hadn’t been for some time. Still, I took photos and closed my eyes and thought of her, having to deal with this horrid man, and knowing she was handing over her baby. Did she care? Did she cry? Wow….what thoughts enveloped me at that time! We got out of there rather quickly.
Everything seemed so overwhelming to me at the time. But I was still excited and needed to press on.
To be Continued…
Watch my blog for new updates and more of the story!