Meeting My Birth Father For The First Time ♡ My Adoption Story

hey guys Michelle here and today I'm gonna be talking about something a little different than usual something's very near and dear to my heart which is adoption as some of you may know I was adopted as a baby and my birth mother had me when she was just 23 years old she was not ready to have kids didn't feel that she could take care of me well and so she decided she wanted to give another family that couldn't have kids the opportunity to have a child so she put me up for adoption and chose my parents my mom and dad to take me home from the hospital and bring me home as their daughter and it's because of that incredibly courageous decision that my birth mother made that I have had the life that I've had that I am Who I am today and that I got a really beautiful upbringing I very much grew up with a mom and a dad and uncles and cousins that are as close to me as anyone could be to their blood family but as with many adopted kids it means that I grew up the vast majority of my life never knowing a single person whose blood related to me never knowing anyone who looks like me or has behavioral similarities because we have similar DNA that was just not a part of my life as as is the case for many adopted kids growing up I had just one photo of my birth mother and her name and adoption papers but I was so little when I found out I just wanted to see the photo and know her name and I had no information about my birth father my birth mother didn't even know who it was so I had no name no information nothing but all growing up I was always so curious and had a hunger and fascination and just like quest to one day hopefully be able to find my birth there and at that point I didn't ever think it would be possible to find my birth father and I remember like I'd always wonder like oh maybe I have siblings out there or something because I grew up an only child and it was just fun really to think about that there can be some elements of my history why I'm here who brought me here on this crazy planet is out there somewhere even though I can't touch it I don't know who it is I don't know where they are I don't know anything have helped them but they exist out there somewhere so I've always wanted to know to find these people and see who they are I get a ton of fulfillment from that but being able to know them or meet them would be awesome so 10 years ago I actually was able to find my birth mother through Facebook and I connected with her and it was beautiful we we met and for the first time I was able to see elements of myself reflected in someone else someone who shared personality traits and just so so many similarities because 50% of our DNA was the same so it was just a really cool beautiful experience and as soon as I met her I hoped and dreamed of potentially one day being able to somehow meet my birth father and more recently now that DNA testing exists and there's things like 23andme and ancestry where you can just spit in a tube send it off to a lab and in a few weeks you suddenly have all this information and are connected to hundreds if not thousands of DNA connected relatives cousins second third fourth fifth cousins so students that became a possibility I got I got really excited because suddenly the potential to possibly find my birth father even though I had no name no face no context no location nothing it was now possible that one day I could find him so as soon as I learned about this stuff I sent my DNA off everywhere ancestry 23andme did all DNA tickets just hoping that maybe I would find a match that would we meet lead me to my birth father and a little over a month ago a match came up for a first cousin and I was like oh my god oh my god a first cousin because before that it was a lot of like second third fourth cousin but um I found a first cousin match and I realized holy cow one of his uncle's is my birth father and so I reach out to him and I spent like five hours that night just deep stalking the internet delving into Facebook family photos and family tree information online and just macgyvering my way through the internet to figure out who this person was and he had like five hours later I landed on the Facebook page looking at the photo and seeing elements of the personality and writing and photos from who I thought was probably my birth father oh my gosh probably one of the top five moments in my life this thing that I had been dreaming about like literal birth dad dreams I'd have like over the past few years just random dreams where I'd meet my birth dad who was a Native American chief for my birth dad who was working at a bait shop or whatever it was like they would all take completely different forms because I just had no context to design who this person was and now suddenly I was looking at a picture looking into the eyes of who I thought was my birth father and there is no feeling like that like so I immediately wrote a letter and I sent it a couple hours later and sat back and cross my fingers but it would be received that you would read it you wouldn't wouldn't totally freak him out and that he would respond and the next day I got a phone call from Southern California I saw the number pop up on my phone and I was like holy like that's him I took a deep breath and answered the phone and we exchanged our first words ever in 31 years it's really funny because I'm certain that he was like this girl's clearly on a mission to find something important for her but it's not me like I never lived in New York I don't recognize her birth mom's name you know we don't look so similar that you'd be able to tell immediately that her father daughter and so but he was really kind and sweet said he'd try and help me however he could and we had ended up having like a five-hour conversation and throughout there was just piece after piece after piece after piece of things that were aligning in our personalities and who we are as individuals and are in her body's in our genetic conditions like all of these things were aligning and when I got off the phone I was like that's my birth dad like that's my birth dad so yeah like that that is the beginning of what has been this past month for me so we've set a date for me to come meet him in person it's nuts and that happened this past weekend and I'm gonna take you guys along with me and show you that experience because it was one of the most special things I've ever experienced my whole life and something that I never thought really would happen and it just everything unfolded beyond any of my most wild dreams like I'm just so grateful for this experience and I know there's a lot of other adoptees out there that are searching for biological parents and if I think I think more of the positive stories deserve to be told and shared because yeah if you if you want to know and if you're questing to find out just don't give up power on and I hope this video you're about to watch gives you a little extra inspiration to keep going so I am leaving in a few hours to fly to Southern California to meet my birth father for the first time and I can't believe today's the day [Music] [Music] I just checked the mail and my fraternity test is here and there we have it this was the most affordable fastest and well graded one that I could find on Amazon so let's see I am heading to the post office to mail out my swab paternity tests I'm mailing it over to represent birth father and he'll complete it and send it in I'm really grateful that there is a way to do this faster than 23 me because six to eight weeks come on [Music] [Applause] [Music] I am starting to feel just butterflies I'm excited I'm anxious this is something that I've been dreaming about my whole life and the fact that it is about to happen in a few hours just crazy [Music] I'm driving to pick up dan and I my eyes started welling up with tears like 15 times we were shelled okay I think the emotion of this is starting to hit me and with travel and so much just like being in the car listing music and sitting in the airplane and just having time to reflect and really think about what is happening today and what's happening right now is a lot it's made me feel really emotional and excited and grateful to have something like this unfold is really cool I can't even believe it [Music] [Music] come on what's going on wait Hey we made we did it [Music] got my mile run interesting [Music] [Music] my cousin Michelle shining out awesome in the world [Music] [Music] [Music] hey wow I've got a share outside of the just mind blow of receiving a message a couple of months back from someone searching for their birth father and believing that I'm him oh my god initially a lot of suspicions around that receipt but after getting some additional information moving toward curiosity and then connecting and putting some more dots together it was like wow this is real oh my goodness gracious what does one do so thankfully I didn't deflect dismiss denied delete ignore instead I chose to explore confirm and open up my arms embrace and celebrate and for that I've been blessed I truly have the love that I've extended that my family has extended to Michelle has just ignited this joy and fulfillment and love and Michelle and multiply back to us it's truly remarkable what we've all experienced what I've experienced you know I I have a son that I absolutely love that motivates me in this life and now I have doubled the motivation another blessing that just came about somewhere in the heavens all I can say is I'm truly truly just happy and isn't that what we're all looking to be there's a little bit more happy in this world I encourage any of you out there if you're on either side of the equation pursue continue down the path if you're searching and if you're on the receiving in like me oh my gosh yeah it's a surprise and unexpected things just fall in your lap this way it's it can be a little stirring but it's it's okay guys okay you know run around shake it off settle back down and say okay what am i in store in store for and and enjoy enjoy the process embrace it celebrate it somebody that is a piece of you just like Nichelle's a piece of me I don't love that just I don't want to love Austin I love Michelle my family we're connected extend love you'll get a lot more back so this is just the beginning of the journey right I found my biological father and was already so happy and satisfied with that but to be able to know him and to connect with him on such an awesome level and be able to meet my aunt's and my uncle and my cousins and my half-brother who I haven't met in person yet but I cannot wait and he is awesome has just been the most amazing experience in the entire world and just one of the beautiful elements of adoption I think there tends to be a lot of cautiousness and negativity put around searching for biological family I know parents can be very protective and individuals can be very fearful of rejection or of things not turning out beautifully but in my heart it I was never that was never a concern not because I thought it couldn't happen but just because I knew I'd rather know I just need to know who this person is that I came from and if they're a sociopath they're crazy work they're you know did we don't connect on any level like that's fine that's what it is I just needed to know and anything beyond that is just cherries on top but right now I definitely feel like the luckiest human being on the planet I have the most amazing parents the most amazing family and now I also have been able to meet and get to know my birth mother and her family and just this last weekend for the first time I was able to look my birth father in the eyes who had no idea that I existed on this planet and gave him a hug and meet his family and hang out with his family and see my blood grandparents I just I just had no words it's awesome I mean it's better than any movie I've ever watched and it's my life and it's just really cool like all the all the elements that may feel like they're missing from your life if you're adopted if you stay positive and just do what you can to go after the things you want in your life when they when they come to be there infinitely more special than they ever would be if you had had them from the beginning okay so sorry for talking so much you never know how to end these videos but yeah that's my story thanks for watching this is just the beginning I can't wait to meet my half-brother and yeah I I hope you guys found a little bit of something to smile about today because this world can be a really really special beautiful place sometimes thank you guys so much for watching if you want to see more videos about vegan things be sure to subscribe stay tuned for more and I'll see you in the next video lots love have a beautiful day and go after everything you want in life because if you don't you'll never get it love you

Channel: World of Vegan

Views: 1,368,642

Keywords: michelle cehn, adoption, birth father, birth father daughter reunion, biological father, biological father daughter reunion, birthfather, 23andme, ancestry, dna testing, adoption story, adoption reunion, adoption reunion stories, happy adoption reunion story, greg hicks, 23 and me reunion, 23andme vs ancestry, ancestry dna, birth mother, birth mother reunion, birth mom reunion, birth mother adoption story, 23andme story

Id: VHWuu-o65Bg

Length: 21min 4sec (1264 seconds)

Published: Wed Jun 13 2018