~ WISDOM, WIT & INSIGHT TO ENLIGHTEN & INSPIRE ~
~ Birthday ..... offers me a day of reflection ~
Today marks my 41 birthday. I can not believe how quickly time passes!
I have spent the morning in meditation and reflection. Birthdays to me have always been my personal New Year Day.
As I look back on the first 40 years of my life, I see joys & sorrows,trials & tribulations, celebrations & miracles.
The gift of time allows me to reflect upon events and draw upon the wisdom I obtained through the years.
My life began in an orphanage in Ireland way back in the mid 1960's. My birth mother was a child herself, only 15. She was sent away from her home to a home for Naughty girls or wayward girls as they like to call them. Her family was too poor to keep me, and I was placed up for adoption.
A family from Chicago with roots and ties to Ireland adopted me at about six months of age. Their journey had only just begun. Adoption laws were changing for international adoptions and it took almost 2 full years to get me on a plane to America. I grew up in a small suburb outside Chicago. My life was good, I had great education, faith and family. Somehow inside of me, something was always missing. I did not know I was adopted until the age of 5. My family's attitude about it was great...they always told me I was special, I was a chosen child.
At the tender age of 13, the only mother I ever knew became ill with cancer and she died just before my 14th birthday. That was the marking of my spiritual journey. That was the time I can recall saying to myself, What is this all about, what is the meaning and purpose to life.
At the age of 25, I decided to try to locate my health records back in Ireland. A friend of mine had gone there on a trip and had brought me back a phone book. I used that phone book to locate the 3 orphanages in Ireland. On 09/19/1991, I made one call and was told no you are not from here. I then placed a second call to Sacred Heart Adoption Society, and there it was....the story of my beginning, my birth. The Sister told me that yes I was born here and that I had a note left on my file by my birth mother. It was her hope that if one day I returned, I would read her words to me. I was not prepared for what I got that day! The Sister stated that I had to put my request for birth information and health information in writing and send it on in the post. I asked her to read me the note right then and there, and she did. My heart cracked wide open as I heard each word being read over the phone to me. That was the first time I learned of my mother's name and her story. What began as a search for health records had turned into a journey of the soul! I was then given my mother's information per her request all those years ago. I held that piece of paper for hours thinking to myself....what do I say to my birth mother?
Well, after spending the entire day clinging to that piece of paper, my best girlfiend finally got me to dial the phone. I was calling London, England to speak with my birth mother. Her answering machine came on so I quickly hung up unable to speak when I heard the beep. It took several hours for me to try to call again, and this time she answered. She knew it was me as the Sister had phoned her to tell her I had made contact and that the note had been read.
We were both terrified yet our hearts were wide open to eachother. We spoke for ages and the conversation was all about each of our lives. Who we were, where we had been and where we were going. Our relationship was healthy enough for me to book a flight to England and then on to Ireland to return to the land of my birth 3 weeks later. I met my birth mother in Heathrow Airport. Nothing prepares you for such an encounter, nothing. I met my sisters and my nephew. We all then travelled to Ireland, back to her family home, back to the beginning. I met my granddad, bless his heart. I met all my aunts & uncles and cousins. The biggest pull on my heart of that entire journey was when my birth mother & I travelled to Sacred Heart together to see the place where I as born and where I lived for 2 years. As we entered the large wooden doors, she held my arm and squeezed my hand and whispered....this time I get to leave with you in my arms. I will never forget that moment in time. It was the first time I realized, she too was healing and finding herself again that day.
I am pleased to say that my birth mother and I have a healthy and happy relationship to this day. She has come to meet my children and they call her Nanny...which in Ireland is grandma. It has been 16 years since those two phone calls. Today, I honor my birth mother. Her faith, her strength, and her love make her & her life an inspiration to me everyday, but especially on my birthday. I always send her a card & email on my birthday, to thank her for the choices she made and the love she felt for me all those years she when never knew who I was or where I was. I can hardly believe how quickly time has passed and that today is the 16th birthday I have celebrated with my birth mother :) She is my source of faith, hope & charity :)
As I look forward to my 41st year of life, I see opportunities all around me for great blessings of growth, joy, happiness, peace and success. I look forward to this year, as I feel it will be special. I am in to numerology and turning 41 on the 14 seems to be relevant to my spiritual growth & development. This year will bring me everthing I need for my growth & development. I look forward to each day and I have promised myself to remember this one key mantra...
JUST FOR TODAY! This seems to be my angel's message for me today....this is my mantra this year. I look forward with my eyes wide open and my heart wide open too.
Today I count the many blessings and miracles....some of them are even disguised as hard times...times I never thought I could get through...times I couldn't see the Light at the end of the tunnel. For those times have brought me to today, knowing I am a loved & supported child of God and the Universe.
I belong right where I am, doing just what I am doing.
Today....turning 41 .....my feelings and thoughts can be summed up into one word....GRACE :)
Dedicated to Bridget with all my love today & always :)
Sending you Light & Love to guide you on your journey today & always!
Remember...you are just where you need to...JUST FOR TODAY!
Light & Love
Dr Daragh appointments & callback queue
Anonymous comments are disabled