by Beth Steury
In less than thirty minutes, our plane will touch down in Hawaii. Not only have my husband and I never experienced the vacation-paradise beauty of the Hawaiian Islands, we’ve also never met the man who’s picking us up at the airport.

“Are you nervous?” inquires my ever-supportive husband.

I am, but I’m not. I’m mostly numb. Kind of going through the motions.

Last night was short, and today has been long. I think fatigue is contributing to my lack of emotion, and I’m not sure if that’s a good or a bad thing.
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There’s no playbook for this kind of thing. Meeting the man who both you and he discovered just seven months ago is your biological father.

by Kimberly A. Behan
Like a tornado, I swept back into my birth family's life. It was only after the dust settled again, that I wondered if this was the right decision. I thought I was a different person but my feelings of "where do they fit in in my life?" still resided in my heart. The language barrier was an obstacle. I do wonder if we didn't have that barrier to fight through would we be closer? Would we talk more often? Would I not feel dread when I see I have a message from them?

I have visited my Colombian family a total of about five times since we reunited. We got more comfortable with each other, so I wound up staying with them in their small apartment. I got a glimpse of what my life might have been.

by Hannah Andrews

The song played like a sad trombone in my brain. I sat, nibbling sushi, drinking a giant Diet Coke, and flipping through photographs in a mother-son memory book with my newly found fully grown 32-year-old baby brother. It was January 2020, and I was having a reunion with someone I’d never even known existed. Is that a thing? It is in my world.