Despite being expected to feel nothing but gratitude for having been “selected” and “rescued” by her adoptive parents, Doris Blumenthal embarks on a journey to reconnect with her biological family and unravel the heartbreaking irony of her commodified existence.
Doris Blumenthal had always been aware she was adopted and felt the pressure of being a “selected” child. After her parents passed away, she decided to look for her birth parents. Through research and agencies, she was eventually able to locate her birth father’s family. She eventually found that her birth mother was living in Arizona. Doris, her husband and her son drove to Arizona to find her, only to experience a profound sense of grief at what they found.
Doris Blumenthal is an adoptee who was featured in the documentary Reckoning with Primal Wound. She is an active community volunteer with a focus on making health care available to the underserved, especially children. She has been happily married for 37 years and is an avid traveler.
In this episode you will learn:
1. The Impact of Adoption on Identity: Exploring how adoption can lead to a feeling of displacement and a lack of security in relationships.
2. Commodification of Adoption: Examining the commercialization of adoption and the impact it has on adoptees and their birth parents.
3. Finding Birth Parents: Investigating the process of searching for birth parents and the complexities involved.
Resources:
To email Doris: dosidreamgirl@hotmail.com
Connect with me:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/heyboomerpodcast/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/heyboomerpodcast
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/HeyBoomer
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/wendy-green-cpc-heyboomerlive/
Website: https://heyboomer.biz
Loved this episode? Leave us a review and rating here: https://hey-boomer.captivate.fm
Transcript
Wendy Green:
Speaker:Hello and welcome to Hey Boomer.
Wendy Green:
Speaker:The show for those of us who believe that we are never too old to set another goal or
Wendy Green:
Speaker:dream a new dream.
Wendy Green:
Speaker:I am your host, Wendy Green.
Wendy Green:
Speaker:And today we are going to be talking.
Wendy Green:
Speaker:About what it's like to be an adoptee.
Wendy Green:
Speaker:What the experience is as a child in an adopted family with the experiences of trying
Wendy Green:
Speaker:to locate your birth parents and how difficult that can be and what some of the
Wendy Green:
Speaker:outcomes of that may be.
Wendy Green:
Speaker:And we are going to be basing this episode on a documentary that is called Reckoning
Wendy Green:
Speaker:with the Primal Wound, which our guest was a part of that documentary, and it talks about
Wendy Green:
Speaker:the primal wound that many adopted children and adults experience.
Wendy Green:
Speaker:And it got me thinking about when I was pregnant, and I loved being pregnant.
Wendy Green:
Speaker:I know that's not the experience for everybody.
Wendy Green:
Speaker:My daughter did not like being pregnant, but I loved it.
Wendy Green:
Speaker:I kind of tracked every moment of it and what was happening.
Wendy Green:
Speaker:And, you know, if you think about it, I mean, as a as the mother, we are sharing our
Wendy Green:
Speaker:blood system, We are sharing nourishment.
Wendy Green:
Speaker:We are sharing our emotions.
Wendy Green:
Speaker:They say that the fetus can hear through the uterine wall.
Wendy Green:
Speaker:And so we are sharing all of that with the child.
Wendy Green:
Speaker:And then suddenly this child is born, the umbilical cord is cut.
Wendy Green:
Speaker:And they are an individual.
Wendy Green:
Speaker:In my case, when my daughter was born, they took her away for 12 hours.
Wendy Green:
Speaker:I was like crazy.
Wendy Green:
Speaker:I never got to hold her at the moment she was born.
Wendy Green:
Speaker:Totally different experience with my son.
Wendy Green:
Speaker:I did get to hold him.
Wendy Green:
Speaker:We he did not leave the delivery room for quite a while, you know, for them to clean
Wendy Green:
Speaker:him up because I was holding him and trying to nurse him.
Wendy Green:
Speaker:So it was a totally different experience when my son was born, and it made me think about
Wendy Green:
Speaker:how difficult it would be for a birth mother to have to let go of the child that she has
Wendy Green:
Speaker:nourished and raised and grown inside of her for nine months.
Wendy Green:
Speaker:But I don't know how the child feels when they are suddenly taken away.
Wendy Green:
Speaker:So that's part of what we are going to talk about in this episode.
Wendy Green:
Speaker:My guest today, Doris Blumenthal, may never have been held by her mother.
Wendy Green:
Speaker:She doesn't know.
Wendy Green:
Speaker:Her adoption was prearranged.
Wendy Green:
Speaker:And so she was adopted from the moment she was born.
Wendy Green:
Speaker:She knew she was adopted.
Wendy Green:
Speaker:She also knew that she didn't quite fit into her adopted family.
Wendy Green:
Speaker:And there were feelings that she experienced that she wasn't really able to understand as
Wendy Green:
Speaker:a young child.
Wendy Green:
Speaker:And then when she got older and wanted to find her birth parents, that became quite a
Wendy Green:
Speaker:challenge because of the closed adoptions that were part of the reality when she was
Wendy Green:
Speaker:adopted in the sixties.
Wendy Green:
Speaker:So the story that she has to tell about that journey is quite an interesting and amazing
Wendy Green:
Speaker:story, and we'll talk about that as well.
Wendy Green:
Speaker:Before I bring her on, I want to mention one of my sponsors.
Wendy Green:
Speaker:Her name is Christine Baumgartner and she is a relationship coach.
Wendy Green:
Speaker:And she works with people that in two ways, people that are tired of the dating game,
Wendy Green:
Speaker:trying to find a life partner again at this stage in our lives and how difficult and
Wendy Green:
Speaker:challenging that seems.
Wendy Green:
Speaker:So she works with those people and she also works with those of us who have started a new
Wendy Green:
Speaker:relationship as older adults.
Wendy Green:
Speaker:And, you know, we bring a lot of baggage with us.
Wendy Green:
Speaker:And so she works with them to work through some of the challenges and find ways to
Wendy Green:
Speaker:really nurture and and grow the new relationship.
Wendy Green:
Speaker:You can find Christine on her website, the perfect catch dot com.
Wendy Green:
Speaker:And there's a little quiz that you can take there, and then you get a free complimentary
Wendy Green:
Speaker:session with her.
Wendy Green:
Speaker:So if you are thinking about sprucing up your relationship or trying to find a new
Wendy Green:
Speaker:relationship, check out Christine at the perfect catch dot com.
Wendy Green:
Speaker:I also wanted to invite you to the Hey Boomer banter.
Wendy Green:
Speaker:And the hey Boomer banter is a place where we get together monthly as members.
Wendy Green:
Speaker:It's a membership.
Wendy Green:
Speaker:It's a membership opportunity.
Wendy Green:
Speaker:And we get together and we talk about things that are important and relevant and fun.
Wendy Green:
Speaker:I always suggest we well, we do it the third Tuesday of every month.
Wendy Green:
Speaker:I always suggest people bring their favorite nighttime beverage and let's just relax and
Wendy Green:
Speaker:talk and build relationships and build community.
Wendy Green:
Speaker:We do break into smaller groups so that we have more intimate discussions this month,
Wendy Green:
Speaker:which is February 21st, when we're going to be meeting, we're talking about friendship,
Wendy Green:
Speaker:all different kinds of friendships.
Wendy Green:
Speaker:If you're interested in trying out the banter, drop me an email.
Wendy Green:
Speaker:I will send you a one time link to the
Wendy Green:
Speaker:Zoom, to the Zoom link and you will be able to join us one time without being a member
Wendy Green:
Speaker:and find out how much you love it.
Wendy Green:
Speaker:If you have participated in one of our banters before and you happen to be listening
Wendy Green:
Speaker:to this show.
Wendy Green:
Speaker:Go ahead and leave some comments in the chat to let us know how much you enjoyed the
Wendy Green:
Speaker:banter. All right.
Wendy Green:
Speaker:So Doris, Doris was born in San Francisco in 1961, and as I said, she was adopted
Wendy Green:
Speaker:immediately. She grew up in a multicultural suburb of San Francisco and attended the
Wendy Green:
Speaker:University of California Davis campus where she met her husband, Rob.
Wendy Green:
Speaker:And then they moved to the Sierra foothills in 1990 and raised their son there.
Wendy Green:
Speaker:After her parents passed.
Wendy Green:
Speaker:That's when she began her journey to find her birth families and she found the birth
Wendy Green:
Speaker:family. Details around 2015 with the help of the Alma Society dot org and find my family
Wendy Green:
Speaker:dot org. Her search story is featured in the documentary Reckoning with the Primal Wound,
Wendy Green:
Speaker:which was produced and directed by Rebecca Autumn, Sansom and Pre premiered last year at
Wendy Green:
Speaker:the Catalina Film Festival.
Wendy Green:
Speaker:Doris is a very active community volunteer, and her primary focus is making health care
Wendy Green:
Speaker:available to the underserved and especially to children.
Wendy Green:
Speaker:She has been happily married for 37 years and is an avid traveler.
Wendy Green:
Speaker:So with that.
Wendy Green:
Speaker:Welcome, Doris.
Wendy Green:
Speaker:Hi, how are you?
Wendy Green:
Speaker:I am good. So glad to have you here.
Wendy Green:
Speaker:Thank you for this.
Wendy Green:
Speaker:So, Doris, I wanted to start out with we said that you were adopted immediately and
Wendy Green:
Speaker:that you didn't feel like you really fit into your family that adopted you.
Wendy Green:
Speaker:So can you tell me about your early childhood experiences?
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:Well, it was no secret at all that I was adopted.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:It was my birth announcement literally said, Hello, I'm adopted.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:And then when you opened it, it said I wasn't expected.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:I was selected, which adds a whole lot of burden of of performance on the kids part.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:People were overjoyed for my mom and dad, and I remember a lot of comments, just like
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:you're so lucky to have them as your parents.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:You're so, you know, wow, You know, where would you be if it wasn't for them?
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:And as an adult now, I pretty much figure somebody else would have bought me.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:I mean, that's basically what it comes down to, is it was I was a commodity.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:And I don't know if my birth mother had any say.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:Nowadays, a lot of times when you give up a child, you can help select the parent and you
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:know, you can look for certain maybe religious needs or educational.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:What's important to you for the child that you're entrusting to somebody else?
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:I believe that back then, being an unwed parent was just so shameful.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:And so and that shame clouded on to me in that here I was, this sort of mistake
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:or, you know, bad event.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:And I was rescued by my mom and dad when they when they adopted me.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:So I remember that very clearly.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:I remember immediately looking at my mom's extended family with whom we spent a lot of
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:time and all we all went to the same church.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:Most of us looked in the same town and quickly noticing I didn't look like anybody.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:I had this red curly hair.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:Everybody else is here was pretty much pin straight.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:I was very, very fair skinned and my mom and her mom were both very olive complected
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:Swedes and.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:I just as every year went by, it was really obvious that these were not my birth parents
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:and it wasn't like anybody.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:We'd never tried to cover it up or anything, but I think I felt like it just.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:Made the fact that I was adopted so evident, much like I would think a biracial adoptee
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:would be, where, you know, you're Asian and you're growing up with white parents or
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:whatever. And I'm not saying that that causes your parents to love you any less if
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:you don't look like them.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:But it does raise a lot of questions that unadopted people don't have to deal with.
Wendy Green:
Speaker:Right, Right. And and as a child, you know, you experienced other families where, you
Wendy Green:
Speaker:know, mom and dad were the birth parents and obviously your parents weren't.
Wendy Green:
Speaker:Was there any feeling from the other children that you were different?
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:It would be mentioned.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:I think kids themselves are pretty tolerant of a lot of things and not so much in my
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:younger years.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:But when I got into my teen years and it was becoming really clear that my adopted mother
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:was somewhat mentally ill.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:I remember friends saying to me, Well, at least you're adopted, and whatever is with
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:her hopefully won't be transferred to you.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:But I don't feel like you'd get a lot of questions.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:Well, who's your real mom and dad?
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:And I had been taught very early on my adoptive parents were my real mom and dad.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:You have to. You're conditioned from day one.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:To try to forget that there was ever that you were carried by anyone else, that somehow
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:you just dropped from the sky into your adoptive parents hands.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:And there was no prior relationship with anybody up until that point.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:And. That's it.
Wendy Green:
Speaker:Yeah. And you know, and these comments that people make about you're so lucky that you
Wendy Green:
Speaker:were adopted. I mean, you know, they're well-meaning, but what does that feel like
Wendy Green:
Speaker:when when you hear that.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:It gives you a huge feeling of having to be responsible for showing your gratitude,
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:for maybe keeping silent and keeping sweet a little bit more than most kids would, Because
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:how ungrateful is it if you disagree with your parent or you tell them you don't like
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:something or you don't want to go to this place or that place because.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:We adopted you. See you.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:Oh, there. You literally owe them kind of your your existence and.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:Society conditions you to be grateful.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:And if you're not grateful, you are the worst person ever.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:Because what kind of person wouldn't be grateful for being rescued from some horrible
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:unknown fate?
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:Right. And I think that's part of the problem is.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:There's sort of an assumption that if you weren't adopted, you'd end up like Oliver
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:Twist in a workhouse or something, you know, grinding away at a millstone all day long and
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:eating gruel. And I don't necessarily think that's the case.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:Like I said, I think if my parents hadn't made the arrangement, somebody else would
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:have. Would I have been better off or less better off?
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:I don't know. But.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:Right. You know, there's but it is a very burdensome thing to be told over and over.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:Oh, you must be so grateful.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:You're so lucky.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:And then, in my case, having that compounded with a mother who probably shouldn't have
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:been a mother, honestly, she had nine miscarriages before she had me.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:I think the universe was definitely trying to tell her something and she didn't want to
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:listen. And so that's a whole other element in my mind of the whole adoption issue is.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:The fitness of the parent and what kind of screening now?
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:I think in most cases it's much stricter, but especially in adoptions arranged out of
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:this country, it's really become a commodification situation where.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:You know, I know a lot of adoptees from the Soviet Union, and it seems as though their
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:stories are very similar, where maybe their parents are very poor or addicted.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:Somehow one of the parents ends up in the hospital and the child is with them and the
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:government sweeps in to rescue the child, removes them from their parents, and then
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:adopts them to another country for a very hefty price.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:And so there's this whole business adoption.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:It's just it's it's all such a complicated web and.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:There's no way to say how you could make it better.
Wendy Green:
Speaker:Yeah. So the primal wound is that.
Wendy Green:
Speaker:Is that all of this feeling of I don't fit in.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:Or I think, how do you describe that?
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:I think it's how I see it.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:As there was a woman, my mother grew inside of her for approximately ten months.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:I lived in another person.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:That in and of itself has to give you a bond that.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:Never you don't ever forget it.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:You you don't literally remember it because you were, you know, a fetus.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:But there's a connection there.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:And when.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:But it was born.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:That connection was just completely split.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:It was severed, never to be brought back again.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:And that's my wound.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:Is that that connection that I had to the person you are literally closest to in your
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:whole entire existence is just swept away.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:And you don't ever get it back.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:And the comfort that you see when your kid, if you're injured or scared, you go to
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:whoever is raising you or.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:Any, you know, anybody that will hold you at that moment or pick you up if you fallen down
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:until your mommy can get there or whatever.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:But. At some point, there's not that actual connection.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:And one of the things I found out just at the premiere of the film was.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:A lot of us.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:Don't expect any of our relationships to last.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:It's not a reflection on our partners or our friends or our loved ones.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:But what I said during the Q&A at the film was that I know my husband loves me, I
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:absolutely know he loves me.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:But if he walked in right this minute and said, I don't want you in my life anymore,
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:I'm leaving. I'd be totally devastated, but I wouldn't be surprised.
Wendy Green:
Speaker:I big big guy at National.
Wendy Green:
Speaker:Yeah.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:That initial sense of entitlement.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:Yeah I really and like I said, it's my good friends.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:I know they have my back.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:I know they love me dearly.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:And the last thing I want to do is hurt anybody with my words or the way I think.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:But. I truly.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:Wouldn't be surprised.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:I mean, God forbid, even my own son if he said tomorrow, Mom, I just don't want you in
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:my life anymore.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:Yeah, I figured that was going to happen.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:I need that's just.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:And when I said that on the stage at the Q&A, the four women that were up there with
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:me all said, Oh my gosh, me too.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:That's exactly how I feel all the time.
Wendy Green:
Speaker:So that and we got all.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:Raised by different people.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:Some of us were raised by fabulous parents.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:Some of us were in and out of social workers and all that.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:But. We all seem to have that commonality that that.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:We just don't expect.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:We can't. I don't think we're even capable of feeling that security.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:They will be there forever.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:Because we've never had that.
Wendy Green:
Speaker:Because you were abandoned right away.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:Immediately. Exactly.
Wendy Green:
Speaker:Yeah, exactly.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:Or so. You know, if I have a better word.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:Relinquished me.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:I don't feel like my birth mom abandoned me so much as she had no choice, and she just
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:had to leave me.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:And that was society.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:And, you know, but I don't know.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:I mean, it is a feeling of abandonment.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:But I hate to say she abandoned me because that makes her sound like a bad person.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:And she did the very best.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:I believe She did the very best with the choices in front of her in 1960, one of which
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:there really weren't any.
Wendy Green:
Speaker:Yeah. So let's talk about Doris.
Wendy Green:
Speaker:You're you know, what prompted you to try to find your birth parents, your birth families
Wendy Green:
Speaker:and what that journey was like?
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:Well, you know, of course, like I said, growing up, people, kids will do you know
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:your real mom? Do you know your real dad?
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:The neighborhood I grew up in because it was almost all first generation.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:I can't think of hardly anybody on my whole entire street that didn't have at least one
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:foreign born grandparent living with them from all over the place.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:And so in each of our households, our cultures were very important to us.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:We were I mean, my dad came over here in 1948.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:That's that's how new we are to America.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:And so there's this really strong sense of culture and, you know, the pride of being
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:Italian or in our cases being thin Swedes or the people next door to us who were Greek.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:Very, very important in our neighborhood.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:And I think in any big city among working class in your if you're an immigrant, you're
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:very proud of where you came from, your your super proud that you're in the States now.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:But boy, you've got that Finnish drive or whatever.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:So when I would look at myself, I was raised as Swede.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:I was we were bilingual at home.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:But the older I got, I was like, I'm not really sweet.
Wendy Green:
Speaker:Yeah. Doris is having some trouble with her Internet right now, so this reckoning with
Wendy Green:
Speaker:the Primal Wound documentary tells the story of her trying to find her birth families.
Wendy Green:
Speaker:And. Okay, you're back.
Wendy Green:
Speaker:So let's see if you can get the story through about the search for your birth
Wendy Green:
Speaker:families.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:I started looking on and off and before my parents passed away.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:But this was pre the internet, so you couldn't get it right.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:Piece of paper, put it in the mail, send it to someplace, and then they would go through
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:hundreds and hundreds of inquiries trying to match up your date of birth and place of
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:birth. So it was just a huge, arduous.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:Almost unthinkable task.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:And. Probably around, I'm going to say 1986 ish or so.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:I read an article and one of the Women's Medal of Honor Society, which is an
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:organization that fights for adoptee.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:Right. And they had a registry.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:So I wrote to them and I registered with them and never heard anything back initially.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:And then life got busy and I had a child.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:And then in 2007, my parents came to live with us.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:And there I could I never, ever could mention to my birth that I was interested in
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:finding, I mean, to my adoptive parents, that I was interested in finding my birth
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:parents because it it was like the ultimate horrible insult.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:And how dare I want to do that and what was wrong with them and all.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:So once they passed, I decided, you know what?
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:I'm going to just try to start looking.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:Now we have Internet, we have all these resources.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:So I contacted all the online women and.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:Within, I want to say within hours, but it was no longer than a day.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:I got a response and they said, Well, we've been trying to find you.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:And we think we have some records for you.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:And I couldn't believe it.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:And so they sent me the what they thought was possibly the last name and the first two
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:initials of my birth dad.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:And so I looked that name up on the Internet and only found a person in Minnesota who had
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:that now that.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:And unfortunately, he had passed away.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:But in a way that was a little bit goofy.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:I had an obituary and the obituary list names of his daughters who are my half
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:sisters. And I immediately went to Facebook, pulled up my the sister closest to me in age,
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:and she looked like me.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:First person besides my son I've ever seen that looks like me.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:And I called my husband and my son.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:I'm like, Look, look at this lady.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:Doesn't she look like me? And they're like, Oh, gosh.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:And I'm like, This is crazy.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:So I was kind of going down a good path with my search as far as that side.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:But I was really lost as far as the birth mother.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:And as I'm waiting for either one of my sisters or one of their kids to contact me
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:because I sent little notes out to everybody saying, you know, I think I might somehow be
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:related to you. I keep it vague because I certainly didn't want to say their dad had
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:fathered a child that they didn't know about.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:And then find out later I had one guy.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:And so I contacted a second agency called Find my Family dot org and reached out to
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:them. And they were able somehow to get me the last name of my birth mother, the maiden
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:name. And I found that although I had never in my life heard this last name, it was very
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:common in the area where my pets were from.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:So there was a whole lot of people with this last name.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:And I started being a narrow it down, and I found a woman who was best friends with my
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:birth dad's sister with that last name, who lived across the street and thought, Oh, it's
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:got to be her. So I contacted her son and.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:The woman is pretty, pretty profound dementia.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:But her and her son said, Well, I don't know.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:I don't know if she is or not.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:She never mentioned it to me.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:But you're welcome to come to Las Vegas and speak with her with me present, which I told
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:stood. And so I went out and she was just the cutest thing.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:And at one point she looked at me and she said, Well, I don't know, honey.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:I think if I'd had a daughter and given her that, I'd remember that.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:And which you would, you know, who knows when you have dementia if you would or not.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:But as it was not my birth mom, but her cousin was.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:And by now I had been in contact with my sisters and one of my birth beds.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:Sisters sent yearbooks out to me and marked the pages with every female with this last
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:name. And so I was looking, came through.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:And then.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:I found who was pretty much my twin.
Wendy Green:
Speaker:And really.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:That absolutely floored me.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:I couldn't believe that the that well, the resemblance I have I should have printed
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:them. But there's a picture of my birth dad at about 14 and a picture of my son at the
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:same age and they an uncle.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:And my birth mom until her around her twenties.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:She and I resembled each other very, very strongly and have a lot of the same habits,
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:which I thought was really odd.
Wendy Green:
Speaker:Like, how did you find that.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:Out for years?
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:And because when my half brother, her son, wrote.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:I right up on Arman.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:He said she had a half pack of Benson and Hedges ultralight one hand in her pocket,
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:which is the exact brand I smoked almost the entire time that I was a smoker.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:And it's a very odd.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:It's not like Marlboro or camel that, you know, everybody smokes has had.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:She was a voracious reader.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:She loved to have a cocktail.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:Just weird little things.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:And then as I started doing more research, I was able to trace where she lived in San
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:Francisco and, you know, in the bay later.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:And at times during my growing up, we lived a mile apart.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:Oh, that's which I think is just so strange.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:I would probably pastor in the grocery store, I don't know.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:And again, I don't have any idea if she ever met my parents.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:That raised me. So I don't know.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:If this was intentional or it was just a fluke.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:I mean, the thing is, the Bay Area is huge.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:And the fact that.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:She and I lived so close together and then later in college at different times.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:But still.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:My half brother and I both lived in the same apartment building.
Wendy Green:
Speaker:Jeez.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:That's wild. So, I mean, it is.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:It's very, very strange.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:So finally, through really doing a lot of research and thankfully, Arizona, which is
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:where my birth mother moved to, they're very open with their records, which was really
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:nice. So by birth, Mother's half sister was very helpful in telling me the town she lived
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:in and an address that she had used to live at, that she had rented.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:And what my aunt told me was that she was now living in another home owned by the same
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:people who owned the house she rented.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:So I was able to contact the records and find out who owned the first house she lived
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:in. And then they will need what other properties these people owned.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:And one of the things my aunt told me is that my mom was living in a downstairs
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:apartment and then the garage of the house was above her because it was on a hillside.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:And then when the people who owned the home would travel, my mom would go stay in the
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:house. So now I know where she is and.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:So what do we do? We drive to Arizona, of course, but his got to go find her.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:So we drive.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:Drive all the way to Prescott, Arizona, and the first house.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:We went to was actually the wrong address, and that's when we went the next day to the
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:county records office.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:And this woman who had been so incredibly helpful, she pulled up the other properties
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:and we were not only able to get the address, we could see the building plants.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:So we knew this was the right place because we could see the garage with the apartment
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:and the house and all this.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:So. We that was at about.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:2:00 in the afternoon because they had just come back from lunch.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:We got in the car, drove to the house, went up to the front door, and the front door was
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:completely glass so you could see inside and it looked into a family room and kitchen.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:And on the kitchen counter I could see a pair of glasses just like laid down a book
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:overturned marking a spot, a pack of cigarettes and.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:Oh, a cup, a mug.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:And so nobody answered.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:And I said to my husband, Well, she must have just run out to the post office or the
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:store or something because you wouldn't go away and just leave your things just sitting
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:there for, you know, a vacation or something.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:So.
Wendy Green:
Speaker:We laughed. But you had not contacted her ahead of time to let her know you were
Wendy Green:
Speaker:coming?
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:I didn't because I just wanted to see her once, and I was afraid if I told her I was
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:coming, she would say, Don't come.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:And if she said, I don't want to see you, I would have had to respect that.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:So I didn't want to give her the opportunity to do that because I just wanted to see her
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:once. And and this sounds really odd, but I wanted sounds really funny.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:I wanted to smell her, and I can't.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:I know it sounds strange, but there's something about when you hug someone you
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:really, really are connected to.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:Part of that feeling is their essence.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:You and me.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:It's just like smelling a certain aroma or a flower that takes you back to a certain
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:memory. Really specifically.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:And I don't know why, but it was just really important to me to hug her once.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:And feel that.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:And so.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:We went back to our hotel and we talked for a while, and then I got a message from my
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:half brother via Facebook that said, It's come to my attention that you're in Prescott
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:and you want to harass my mother and she doesn't want to see you.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:And if you contact her, I'm going to call the police and you have a picture of her on
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:Facebook and you need to take that down because you can't put that up.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:And it was just very nasty.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:And I tried to stay as nice as I could.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:And if you know me, sometimes that's a bit of a stretch.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:I, I wrote back and I said, you know what?
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:I'm here and I own the picture.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:So if I want to put it on a billboard, I will.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:And I'm not going to harass her.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:I'm certainly not here to shake down a woman who basically has no money.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:I just want to see her once.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:And if if that displeases you, I'm sorry.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:And if you want to call the police, go right ahead.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:Because I don't think I've committed any crimes, nor do I plan to.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:So have a good day.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:And we went to go to dinner and I said to my husband because we were leaving the next day,
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:I said, you know, I'm just going to call her.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:I'm going to leave a message, tell her my intent and call left a message said, Hi, it's
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:me. I don't know if you want to see me or not, but I came all this way.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:I just want to meet with you once.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:If you don't want to do it at your home, we can meet in a park or a library or a coffee
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:place. I don't want to hurt you.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:I just want to see you once.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:Just one time. And.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:And honestly, I would like you to see your grandson because I'm very proud of him.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:And he's a wonderful person.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:And I just want you to meet him once and start getting emotional.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:Sorry. And so we went to dinner and we were walking back and my phone rang and it was her
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:number. And I just got, you know, like, chills.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:I was like, oh, my gosh, she's calling me.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:She's calling me. That's great.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:And I pick up the phone and it's a man.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:And he says, Is this Doris Blumenthal or no, He said, This is sergeant whoever.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:Who am I speaking to?
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:And I said, Well, why are you calling me?
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:What do you want? And he said, Well, you call this number.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:And I said, Yeah.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:And he goes, Well, why're you calling it?
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:And at this point I thought perhaps my brother had enlisted the help of to throw me
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:off the court. I believe this was a policeman, because why would a policeman call
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:me that? I hadn't done anything illegal.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:So why would the cops be involved in this?
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:And so I stirred this whole thing like you are not a policeman, you know, Stop it.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:I know my brother put you up to this, blah, blah, blah, blah.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:And the policeman is like, No, I'm just trying to track down somebody who knows this,
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:your birth mom and I.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:I said, Well, you know why?
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:What's going on?
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:And he said, Well, who are you?
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:And I said, Okay.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:I said, I was adopted.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:She's my birth mom.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:What is going on?
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:And he said, Well, I'm really sorry to tell you this, but she's passed away like my legs
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:buckled.
Wendy Green:
Speaker:Yeah.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:And so close.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:Well, and I still was kind of in a sense of disbelief, you know, is this really true or
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:is my brother or somebody calling me to say she's dead, so I'll go away?
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:And so I said, you know, I looked at Rob and Tim and I think I might have even given Rob
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:the phone. It's kind of a blur.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:And so he said, I said, Well, I do have a half brother.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:This is his name.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:This is where he lives.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:I don't have a phone number.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:I'm sorry. But if you you're on her phone.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:Clearly so I'm sure he's in there.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:I said, or else we have an aunt and I can give you her number.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:And so we started to go back to the hotel and we're walking back there and the phone
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:rings again. And this time it was a different number.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:And so I answered it, and it was the detective using his own phone.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:And he said, Where are you?
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:And I said, Well, we're walking on the square back to the hacienda.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:And he said, I need you to go back there and stay there till I get there.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:And I said, Well, why?
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:And he said, Well, your brother has indicated that you might be a person of
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:interest. You may somehow be involved in your mom's passing.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:Right. And I said, But I've never even met her, you know.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:This doesn't make any sense, you know?
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:It just my whole mind at this point was just absolutely reeling.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:So we went back to the hotel and the deputy came out and interviewed me.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:And, you know, we had first of all, we're like, you know, your average American family.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:Clearly, we didn't go and whack some old lady we'd never met.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:And second of all, we had been at the county records office just prior to her death, and
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:we had a very traceable day.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:You know, we had we covered our steps.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:Well, no, I mean, we were able to really back up what we were saying we had done.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:And he was really satisfied with that and, you know, gave his condolences and said, you
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:know, I really hope you can work things out with your brother, which never happened.
Wendy Green:
Speaker:But as it turns out, you never got to meet your mom or your dad.
Wendy Green:
Speaker:No, but you have a relationship with your half sisters.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:My sisters and I are very close, and my one sister has four children and I enjoy them and
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:their children very much.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:And then my mom's half sister and my Auntie Myra.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:She and I get along fabulously.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:I was just out in Minnesota over the summer for a week and got to visit everybody.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:And that whole side of the family has just been wonderful.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:And when we the first time I went to go meet my sisters, that my sister's side of the
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:family had a big get together so I could meet everybody.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:And it's been really nice.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:I think I've met most.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:My dad came from a really big family, like eight kids, and a few of them have passed,
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:but I think not positive.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:I think I've met everybody.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:It's it's a lot when you go from being an only child and, you know, suddenly you're
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:meeting this and that aunt and these cousins and those people.
Wendy Green:
Speaker:It.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:Gets kind of blurry.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:But, you know, I was.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:I'm at a point, with the exception of my relationship with my brother, that I'm at
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:peace about everything.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:I still would like to have a relationship with my brother.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:I understand his point of view.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:I understand that.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:He had no idea.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:I don't think that I existed.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:I think much like one of my sisters, one of my sisters was a little angry at first
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:because our father.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:And died of cancer and was quite ill for a few months and needed very intense care which
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:my sisters provided to him.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:And I think my one sister really feels like since he knew he was dying, maybe he should
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:have said something or disclose the fact.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:Oh, by the way.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:Yeah, somewhere out there.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:And so I think there's a slight feeling of betrayal or, you know, my dad that I thought
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:I was so close to.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:I feel like I shattered that for her.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:And so I think that's the case with my brother as well.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:I think that I know from everything I've read, my birth mom worked her butt off
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:because my brother's dad died when my brother was two as the result of an accident.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:My birth mom had a very difficult life.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:I mean, it was not easy.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:And she cleaned houses and taught school and worked super, super hard to provide for my
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:brother. And I think that made them very close.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:So I think he I'm a reminder to him.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:That there was something he didn't know about.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:Right.
Wendy Green:
Speaker:Right. Well, you know what?
Wendy Green:
Speaker:This is an amazing story, Doris.
Wendy Green:
Speaker:You have processed all of this as well as you possibly could, and I know that.
Wendy Green:
Speaker:You know, there's well, I don't know.
Wendy Green:
Speaker:I would imagine there's some sadness that it didn't all come together the way you wanted
Wendy Green:
Speaker:to, But at least you have some answers.
Wendy Green:
Speaker:Some answers.
Wendy Green:
Speaker:And I appreciate that you were willing to share it with us.
Wendy Green:
Speaker:If anybody has questions for Doris about the search, she mentioned two organizations, the
Wendy Green:
Speaker:Alma Society, that's Alma, the Alma Society dot org and find my family dot org.
Wendy Green:
Speaker:You can. She has graciously said that we could email her.
Wendy Green:
Speaker:That email is dosey Dreamgirl.
Wendy Green:
Speaker:So that's d0c which was a nickname for her Dosey dream girl at hotmail dot com.
Wendy Green:
Speaker:So if you are looking for your birth family and you have any questions for Doris, you can
Wendy Green:
Speaker:reach out for her out to her there.
Wendy Green:
Speaker:I want to give a shout out.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:To the and I'm certainly not an expert, so.
Wendy Green:
Speaker:But you know, you have some insights that you could help with.
Wendy Green:
Speaker:So I appreciate that.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:Yeah. I just I don't want people to have the expectation or think that I think I know
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:everything about adoption or what it's like to be adopted.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:I know my.
Wendy Green:
Speaker:Experience. Exactly.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:And I'm willing to try to help if people need some help, but I can't fix.
Doris Blumenthal:
Speaker:Right. I couldn't even fix my situation, so.
Wendy Green:
Speaker:Well, yeah, thanks for that clarification.
Wendy Green:
Speaker:Before I end, I want to give a shout out to the Greeneville Podcast Company for their
Wendy Green:
Speaker:expert editing and production of the Hey Boomer podcast, which is available on all the
Wendy Green:
Speaker:podcast apps.
Wendy Green:
Speaker:And this will be as well.
Wendy Green:
Speaker:I also want to invite you to join us on the Hay Boomer banter on February the 21st.
Wendy Green:
Speaker:It's 630 to 730 in the evening.
Wendy Green:
Speaker:That's Eastern Time.
Wendy Green:
Speaker:So if you want to try it out, join us.
Wendy Green:
Speaker:You can email me at Wendy at Hey Boomer Dot Biz and I will send you a link for that.
Wendy Green:
Speaker:And if you are looking for some relationship help, whether it's dating help or trying to
Wendy Green:
Speaker:work out the kinks in a new relationship or even an existing relationship, check out
Wendy Green:
Speaker:Christine Baumgartner on the perfect Match.com.
Wendy Green:
Speaker:So next week, next week, we're going to meet.
Wendy Green:
Speaker:We're going to meet two teenagers, Avery Simon and Eleanor McGirt.
Wendy Green:
Speaker:They're juniors at Maldon High School.
Wendy Green:
Speaker:And last year, they started a club at their school called the Young Women's Forum.
Wendy Green:
Speaker:It is for all who identify as female, and the group aims to create a community of
Wendy Green:
Speaker:support and activism for girls at their high school.
Wendy Green:
Speaker:So why am I having teenagers on the Hey Boomer show?
Wendy Green:
Speaker:Well, because young women like this are our future and promoting what they're doing and
Wendy Green:
Speaker:building intergenerational conversations.
Wendy Green:
Speaker:That's important to me and understanding some of the issues that this generation is
Wendy Green:
Speaker:dealing with and how they are different from some of the issues that we dealt with and how
Wendy Green:
Speaker:they are the same as some of the issues that we dealt with.
Wendy Green:
Speaker:So I think this is going to be a really interesting eye opening conversation, and
Wendy Green:
Speaker:it's an opportunity for us to find ways to work with young women to help them as they
Wendy Green:
Speaker:move forward. And I always like to leave you with the belief that we can all live with
Wendy Green:
Speaker:passion, live with relevance, and live with courage.
Wendy Green:
Speaker:And remember, you are never too old to set a new goal or dream a new dream.
Wendy Green:
Speaker:My name is Wendy Green, and this is Ben.