After three years of marriage things were not going well for my husband and me. He found another woman he would rather spend his life with. I can't really blame him as I was working two jobs and trying to raise two children., as well as trying to get moved into a new mobile home. He probably felt neglected and alone, and I just assumed there would be more time sometime. The other woman was a lady we both worked with and I considered her to be a friend. I had overheard her say she would run away with any man who had a baby (as she could have no more children) but I never dreamed it would be mine. She had a loving husband and a new home so everyone thought she was just joking. Those words have haunted me many times since. My husband told me he was leaving, but not with another woman, and I thought he needed time to think things over. He moved a short distance away. Three weeks after he moved out he came to my parents house on the pretext of wanting to get some tools out of the shed. My parents were babysitting while I was at work. My Father stepped out to open the shed and my husband ran in the house, grabbed the baby (he was almost 2 years old, out of bed where he had been taking a nap; proceeding to run out the door. My Father was 70 years old at the time, and realized that he could not battle a 26 year old man so he proceeded to disable my husbands car. He did not realize that parked just a few yards away was my husbands girlfriend. They wisked my son into the car and sped away. My Father called me at work as well as the local authorities, but there was nothing they could do as the baby was just as much his as it was mine. It seems as though everytime we almost caught up with them they had left a short time before. As the years go by, you never forget but you have to go on with your life. I married a wonderful man and had a beautiful baby girl. I always wondered and worried about my son, but had no real hope of ever finding him. My oldest daughter was 9 years old when they took the baby so she remembers the incident well and it has affected her all her life.
Early this spring I finally got an internet connection for my computer. I am totally computer illeterate but I did manage to find some missing people places on the web and posted information there. I had no response to any of the postings. One day when I was checking out geneology I happened across the WBS chat room. I didn't find any links to my ancestors there, but I did meet some wonderful people. One evening after I had been chatting for a couple of weeks, I asked some of these folks for help. I did not realize there were so many resources on the net. Everyone started sending "buttons" and were very patient with me while I learned how to use them. Two people there (Randy Hunter and Lexy 43) offered tremendous moral support as i started yet another search. On Sunday morning (Mother's Day) I found a number that looked promising. I called it and asked a young man if this was his name, birthdaye, and place of birth. He answered "That's Me". I was so excited that I hardly knew what to say and after he told me about himself and wished me a "Happy Mother's Day" several times we hung up and I promised to write hi soon, send pictures, and I even sent the family tree. I called my oldest daughter and she was beside herself with joy. She immediately called him herself. The comical part of this story is that while I was talking I forgot what I was doing and let the bathtub overflow, flooding the house. My oldest daughter went to see him in May and brought pictures of him, his wife and baby to me. I wrote him a long letter explaining the last 25 years.
He is very attached to the lady that raised him, as he should be, and although I can never forgive her for what she did to me; I feel that I must thank her for being a good Mother and raising him properly. His Father passed away in 1988.
I haven't met him in person yet, but I am hoping to soon. I'm not even sure how he feels about meeting me; I know this has all been a tremendous shock to him and had a big impact on his life. I'm only sorry that my brother and my Father didn't live long enough to know he was found. My mother is 97 years and does not know a thing. She resides in a nursing home. My parents always blamed themselves for allowing him to be taken, but they were doing the best they could and I don't blame them at all.
If anyone has ever had a loved one missing they can imagine my joy in finding him. If anyone has ever been found by a parent or other member of their family they can relate to what must be going on in his mind right now. I also realize that while I can never be accepted as a "Mother" I would like to be his friend and have a place in his life.
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