Diane was in trouble.
Just a few years earlier, she had given birth to a son.
With no husband to help her financially or emotionally.
Now, at age 22, Diane was pregnant again.
What could she do?
After all, what could she do back in 1963? Things were very different for women back then.
So, Diane Norris did what she felt she had to do. She gave her newborn baby up for adoption.
But since that day, Diane has felt a void.
“And I’ve been looking (for her) for 60 some years,” Diane said.
During those six decades, life went on. Diane married, got a job at a telephone company in Palmdale and settled down in Sun Country.
And life also went on for her adopted daughter – now named Michelyn Lambuth – some 500 miles away in Indiana.
However, when she was 13, Michelyn’s parents sat her down and said they had something to tell her.
She was adopted.
They showed her the adoption papers and even helped her look for her birth mother but to no avail.
Michelyn brought a family photo album to share when she met her birth mother, Diane. Photo: Dave Buffington
And time ticked on … life went on … for six more decades.
Until technology caught up and a company, which has since become a household name, 23andMe, began offering DNA genetic testing.
When Diane’s great niece, Paula, heard about 23andMe, she prompted Diane to take the test.
Soon after Diane sent the results in, she got a call.
It was Paula, who had just received the results of the test.
“She said, ‘I think you have a daughter … Her name is Michelyn,’” Diane said.
Michelyn was at a restaurant when she first learned the news.
She, too, got a message – a text – from Paula.
“It said, ‘Your birthday is April 14, 1963?’” Michelyn said.
After the two connected the dots, Michelyn wrote back, “That is my mom … I want to meet her.”
Michelyn remembers exactly where she was when she got that message.
“I was eating Chinese, and (my husband) said ‘All right, let’s go,’ because I started bawling,” she said.
However, reconnecting with a parent, or a daughter, you never knew can be difficult.
There’s lots of feelings and lots of questions.
But Diane kept it simple when she first contacted Michelyn.
“Hi, this is Diane. I’m your mom.”
But as expected, Michelyn had a question, a big one.
“Why was I put up for adoption?” she asked Diane.
That was a very heavy question with a very complex answer.
But Diane explained, and Michelyn listened.
And in the end, “It was the right decision,” Michelyn said.
The Reunion
After the two exchanged pleasantries and got to know one another over text, it was time for a meeting.
Diane, who is now living at Harmony at Hershey in South Hanover Township, invited Michelyn and her husband to come see her.
And, there was a bonus.
Michelyn also had a brother, Doug, who was the son Diane had given birth to years before she had to make that difficult decision.
And so, on March 12, the family reunited.
Memories were shared, photos were shared and, of course, tears were shed.
Michelyn had a good life with her adoptive parents, Don and Peg Covert, who passed away several years ago.
Michelyn shared baby pictures, prom pictures and photos of her wedding day.
There are even grandchildren now – great-grandchildren for Diane – and a very cool hobby that Michelyn enjoys … drag racing.
A lunch was arranged, compliments of the Milton Hershey School, where Diane’s late husband worked for many years.
And what about those emotions?
“I’ve been in another world,” Diane said. “I prayed that the good Lord would keep me alive ‘til I found her.”
And she finally has.
Photo: Doug, Diane and Michelyn – son, mother and daughter – reunited at Harmony. Photo: Dave Buffington.
Original story posted here.
