Adoption Story - Reunion after 57 years. 2/2

Reflections on 28 Feb 2018 a week after the trip.

So how did the trip go ?

Amazingly well. It was a bit of a whirlwind tour meeting birth mum (Mauri), aunt and niece along with seven out of the eight brothers and sisters.  

How did the Journey go ?

Landing first in Las Vegas we were met with big hugs from Mauri and sister Krystal. Within a day we had also met sister Norah and Sarah P and Aunt Sarah. First night we did the Las Vegas thing, eating at a large Casino resort buffet. Sister Norah then took Alice and I out to the Valley of Fire state park to see the stunning scenery.  We also visited the Las Vegas mob Museum but did not find any more of our family there. Family dinner at Sarah Ps house topped off the day.

A short flight took us to a windy and cold San Francisco, where just north of the city we met with brother Jeremy and Paul at their tie-dye clothing businesses work place. Jamminon.com   We tried our hands at making our own tie-dye which seemed to come out great and certainly takes more skill and technique than I imagined. Dinner that evening at the brothers house helped explore their Californian life style.

Next day a short road trip took us to Sacramento to meet with oldest sister Kim, husband Mike and nephew Derek. They had they had kindly put us up in a local hotel overnight and we all went out to a hearty dinner at the Roadhouse. {I knew we would get on as soon as I saw the DVD of Serenity & Firefly on the shelf.}  We did get on really well, Alice having a lot in common with Kim who runs a mineral powder make up business.

The next day saw us whizzing to the airport just in time for a flight to the furthest stop on the tour, Tucson.  Unfortunately darling daughter managed to pick up a cold and it was unusually raining in Tucson. At this point we had to change the tour motto from “The British are coming.” to “The British weather is coming”.  Brother Josh and Sally were very hospitable and looked after us over a couple of nights. Josh and I got out for mountain bike ride and after dinner drinks in town with friends to watch the Arizona local derby basketball match at a downtown bar.  A visit to a large aircraft museum on the way back to the airport filled in the last morning.  Josh and I have the most in common career wise as he runs a large software technology business Pagely.com  

The short flight from Tucson took us back to Las Vegas. The next day was “The Dam Dog day” where we went to see sister Norah run her agility dog Cider followed by a trip to Hover dam with Krystal.  Coincidently Daughter Alice has been doing dog agility with her poodle Mr. Biggles for the last couple of years.  A visit to the Las Vegas strip with Krystal gave us the inside stories behind the sparkles. The evening topped off seeing the fabulous Cirque du Soleil Beatles show "Love" at Majestic casino.

There was a difficult decision on the penultimate day - go shopping with Alice and the sisters or drive out to the nearby Blue Diamond town and hire a mountain bike and ride off into the desert.  That decision took less than a nano-second.  Instead of huffing and puffing like a stranded whale outside the shops waiting for the girls to appear, I huffed and puffed up the desert hills.  After a quick dinner later that evening we all went to see “Black Panther” at one of the larger Las Vegas cinemas. 

The final day was packing and getting to the airport for the return journey. The family was so welcoming and generous that, despite offloading loads of Early Grey tea, Marmite and Lint chocolate Bunnies, we needed an extra suitcase on the return trip that brought us back to Newquay on a cold February morning. 

Reflections

That Google search was one from where there was no return and our family landscape has really changed for the better.  { This certainly is the family extension jackpot. }  I have some wicked new tie-dye clothes and a couple of business ideas to develop. Meeting Birth Mum Mauri and all those brother and sisters & aunt was a great adventure that because of their friendliness completely exceeded all we could hope for.  They have promised return visits but hopefully not all arriving at once.

From a technology point of view - if folks don't feel comfortable to post detailed blogs and pages magic search results like this won't happen. 

Listen to more on BBC Radio 4 - Saturday Live 10 March 2018


Adoption Story Part 1 - Discovery
Adoption Story Part 2 - Reunion
Adoption Story Part 3 - Lessons