Her son reunited with his birth mother after 20 years away via a social media post. It turned out that they worked in the same place, without knowing each other.
Holly and Benjamin are reunited after 20 years apart. Then, 20 years ago, Holly had to make a difficult choice: give Benjamin up for adoption. And now, a post on social media has changed a young man’s life forever. The 20-year-old high school teacher’s assistant knew from an early age that he was adopted by parents Angela and Brian Halleberg. Curiosity about his birth mother haunted him for many years, but all he knew was her name – Holly. “I have always thought of her with gratitude,” Benjamin said. – After all, thanks to his sacrifice, I had a life full of opportunities, for which my parents and I are very grateful to him. Hence the desire to meet her one day.
Holly was only 15 when her son was born, and she didn’t have the ability to provide him with a decent quality of life, so she found someone who could. But Holly Shearer, who has never forgotten the child she adopted on Thanksgiving Day 20 years ago. “He deserved a mum and dad, a house with a backyard play area for him to play in, a dog – all the things I couldn’t give him,” Holly says.
Benjamin was adopted by a couple who struggled to conceive, but to no avail. It was the hardest decision Holly had ever had to make, and Angela and Brian, her new mother, were worried about her. “We knew Holly loved Benjamin from the day she gave him to us,” Angela said. “She loved him with all her heart and all her soul. Although years have passed since then, the desire has not diminished. “He has always been in my memory. Especially over the holidays and her birthday, it was just a roller coaster of emotions,” Holly said. The woman was aware of the life of her child: from the Hallebergs, she regularly received letters and photographs from Benjamin.
After three years, the letters stopped as the adoption agency closed in 2014. Nothing else connected the two families, and Holly only knew her parents by name, so they lost contact. Holly admits, “I was thinking about him all the time. »
With the advent of social media, Holly began searching for her son online. After a while, she came to Benjamin’s page on the social network. “He was 18 when I found him and I was very hesitant,” she explained. “He had so much going on in his life… The last thing I wanted to do was ruin his life. So I just watched from afar. All the while, Benjamin was trying to find his biological mother. He wrote letters, signed up for the adopted child registry and even passed a DNA test, but all leads came to nothing.
Suddenly everything changed. It only took one social media post in which Holly congratulated Benjamin on his birthday. “I remember exactly where I was when I got the message. I was at work. I was a machine operator and I remember being on machine #15,” Benjamin said. “Between our hourly quality checks, I picked up the phone and saw his message. »
The message read: “Happy birthday. Hope you had a wonderful day! As it came from a complete stranger, Benjamin replied, “Hi, how do you know me?” »
Holly explained, “You don’t know me. 20 years ago I made the most difficult decision of my life and gave up my beautiful little child to adopt him into a wonderful family. I’m not going to turn your life upside down. I thought of you every day and finally had the courage to send you a message. I wish you a happy birthday. Benjamin says the message hit him: because it was found by the person he was looking for. ” I cried. All this caused very positive emotions,” he said. – For me, it was the day I had been waiting for for 20 years of my life, and it was very exciting to imagine that it had finally arrived. I must have taken a lot. »
