Previously.

l've aways known that I was adopted, but in 2003 at the age of fifty one I decided to find my birth mother. After a short search with plenty of help, I found her in California.

I travelled over from Scotland, where I lived at the time, and stood on her doorstep. She lets me in, and we hit it off right away.

She is now telling me the story of my American father, who had to leave for faraway shores with the Merchant Marines. He promises to write, and Mum receives a few letters. She then realises that she is pregnant, and writes numerous letters, but never receives an answer.

It is with a heavy heart that she gives me up for adoption right after my birth in May 1952.

Mum leaves for Heidelberg, Germany to work and to mend, when she meets George. They fall in love, and leave for Denmark to marry in the autumn of 1954.

They have just arrived at my grandmother's home after the wedding when she hands my Mum a letter, saying that was the last letter which had arrived from my Mum's American lover.

It turns out that there'd been eight or nine letters prior to that, but my Grandmother had burned them all.

George and my Mum left at once, and checked into a hotel. In that very last letter my father yet again asks why he hasn't heard anything and whether it is a boy or a girl they'd had. It is a last plea for Mum to answer. She decides against it as she's just married George and about to start a new life.

Mum tells me that she's decided to move back to Denmark. She reveals she has a halfsister and an old friend she's known since chilhood.


Part Twenty One


"What do you mean with that look of yours, Mum. Do you have it all planned?" I couldn't help smiling. She just looked so wicked. "Come on, please do tell, I can't wait to hear it."

Mum's smile got even wider. "OK, I'll put you out of your misery. As I said ealier, this house has already been sold, but what I didn't say was that I've also bought a house in Denmark. When all the paperwork is finished here, I will start packing up, and I reckon it will be towards the end of August, when I travel to Denmark."

I must have looked like one big question mark, because, before I could say anything further, Mum continued.

"I can see what you are going to ask, but it's all taken care of. All my furniture, in fact everything I own is going to be shipped over. Even my beloved car is coming with me."

I could only look at her in wonder.

"You are joking, surely. Your car? Why not just sell it?" I laughed.

"Mum, when you say it will be shipped over, do you actually mean that all your possessions are to be sailed all the way to Denmark?"

"Oh yes, Ulla, that's exactly what I mean. A whole team will come here and pack up every single item that I own, which will then be sailed over. By the way, don't snicker. I love that car, and that's it."

I nodded and did my best to hide a smile as Mum continued.

"When all is done, I'll leave for San Francisco staying a couple of nights, before I catch my flight. I'll be staying with my dear friend in Copenhagen, the one I told you about, until everything has arrived. It's a door to door delivery, and the contract we have agreed to, is that they will move everything into my new home as well. All I have to do is to tell them where I want my furniture. So, you see it's all planned and thought through very carefully."

I looked at Mum in astonishment, and I had to admire her. What a woman! Yet again, I discovered where I had certain things from. It never ceased to amaze me every time I recognised another trait that I had inherited. It thrilled me. In fact, it was such a novelty. What most people took for granted I was only starting to discover at the grand old age of fifty one.

I was quiet for a wee while, and Mum let me be, as she seemed to understand what went through my mind. That I had to process it all, and in my own time, which I was grateful for.

To say that I was overwhelmed was an understatement. In less than four days, I had not only met my birth mother for the very first time, and travelled half way round the world to do so. She'd also told the story about my father, who I was determined to find, and now to cap it all, she'd told me that she was to move back to Denmark opening up the possibility for us to see so much more of each other.

I had rarely felt so pleased in my life. What a journey this had been and still was, and something told me that it was far from over.

In the evening, Miriam came over to meet me, and what a lovely lady she was. I realised how close friends they were, and it was evident how sad they were to be separated.

The next day, Mum and I decided that enough had been said for the time being. It was my last day before I had to head down to Los Angeles to catch my flight back home, and we spent the day in an amicable way in the knowledge that a strong bond had formed between us.

All the same, it was not easy to leave. We were both tearful and hugged as if we were never to let go. We both knew that we would be calling each other, yet the feeling of loss was overwhelming.

I pulled out of the driveway, and as Mum waved, I could see her tears matching mine. I knew it was not a final goodbye, yet I felt as if deprived of all joy. One last wave and I was away.

I thought back to five days earlier. Was it really only five days ago? When I had driven the opposite way crying like a baby for fear of meeting my Mum, and how she would react. And now... now I was crying because I was leaving. Leaving my Mum, who I had come to love. Crying because I would miss her, but also crying with joy, because I now knew that we were an item and I was to see her later in the year. Meanwhile, it was good to know that we would be speaking on the phone.

I was a very happy woman as I drove down highway one, a woman so different from the one that had driven up the other way a few days earlier.

To be continued.