Adoption Reunions: Social Media Contact

It is April 2005 and I have definitely found my lost child.

He is right there..on MySpace and all I have to do is hit “send”..and I have touched him again. I want to immediately, oh so bad. I am shaking. I am freaking out. It is a dream come true.

The funny thing..I was sitting across from Rye when it happened. We both have our computers in the attic. I have my side, he has his, the staircase is in the middle. It is a rough unfinished space, but we escape here often. We don’t watch TV ( except I watch ER religiously) we just do “our thing”. He plays Tom Clancy’s Raven Shield..an online shoot bad guys game with a bunch of guys..and I have my groups. my boards, my ladies…I write about adoption.

Sharing the Emotions of a Pending Adoption Reunion

Anyway, I don’t tell him. I say nothing. I don’t know why, but silently, I run to AI. It is safe there..and they know. The excitement I feel can only be truly appreciated and understood there.

My initial post went out: 8:26 PM 4/2/2005. Pretty much immediately, someone responds and we start to collect in chat. I can’t remember all who were there..it is a blur now. MSP, KC, Mom22, Hagar, Phoebe, Issues, Robin? It felt like everyone was there..it was wonderful.

I explained the story again and again..How I found him, what his website said. How he had a blog entry sign as Mysterious Max, even though he was name Gary after his adoptive father. That he listed “Where the Wild Things Are” as his favorite book list. That he loved Star Wars. It is incredible..these little signs that only I could see, but things that said that what little he knew of me and us, he made part of him. And that were enough of a part of him that they were his public profile to the World.

Making First Contact

Encouraged and with support I penned an almost cryptic message. Unfortunately, I cannot find the original off hand. I think I have it in a mailbox, but I cannot try right now, I will insight laziness. Anyway, I mentioned Star Wars and George Lucas, Maurice Sendack, and eluded that I would love to talk to him AGAIN about such things. Then I put in the request to add him to my friends list.

Now MySpace has this neat little feature where you have a blinky orange dot when you are online, so there were times, when we were in chat that he was online….so close!

After I sent the message, he was off for the night, so he didn’t see it immediately, he didn’t check it the next AM either. I had to leave my laptop and go to work all day, away from my internet, and wait to find out if he responded.

Waiting For an Adoption Reunion

So I went to work, both jobs that day, and I think, acted pretty normally. I didn’t talk to anyone in my “real life” about it. It was intensely private. I didn’t want to share my emotions and feelings and have to explain. I still didn’t tell Rye. It was suddenly just my time.

I know at the end of the night I was pretty antsy. When I checked my cell at the end of the shift, I bugged out as there were 3 long distant messages and I didn’t recognize the number.

Once in my car, I was able to listen to them. It was Mom22, and she had joined MySpace and was watching for me while I was at work. Because she was now a member, she could see who was on who as on my Friends list. I had asked to have Max be my Friend, but he had to approve before we would be on each other’s list. She had called to tell me that he was appearing on my list. That meant that he was online and saw my message. He had approved me. I was Friends with my SON!

She talked me thought the drive home. It was 17 minutes of pure excitement and anxiety. This could be it. I could have real live communication with my son waiting for me at home. Inside, I continued to freak out. Outside, I calmly drove home after a long days work. I got in the house as fast as I could and got online. They were all waiting for me in chat again. I came in, quickly greeting and said “I am going in”.

Then I opened a new window and signed into MySpace to see what waited for me there.

Continue Reading….The End of Exile