Bonneville America Forums Forums Off Topic Discussion Forums Lounge "Making lemonade" from a tax form

Received a tax form last week about the house my father left me some 3 years back after he passed on. He had outlived my mother by two years. On the form for the "Reassessment Exclusion For Transfer Between Parent and Child" was a question about being adopted. Now, I had known my whole life that I was adopted as an infant, and so I asked by wife Judie to get those old adoption papers out of our file cabinet. After Judie opened the envelope, which over the years I had lightly scanned from time to time, she started reading aloud the specifics of my adoption and I guess became intrigued by them.

After a few minutes of this, Moose, one of our two dogs started with his "Hey Dude! Are we goin' to the dog park today or not?" shtick, and so I told her I was going to take Moose and Trixie to their favorite stompin' grounds.

I guess after we three muts left her curiosity got the better of her, so Judie goggled my biological mother's name and surprisingly found a geneological chart on the net with her name on it and where she was presently living, a town in British Columbia Canada.

Upon returning home, well, yep..you guessed it. After 55 years, thanks to my beautiful wife AND I guess, thanks to the Taxman, I have talked to my "other mom", and it appears she had looked forward to this day since the day she turned me over to my Mom and Pop at the hospital. Her husband who passed away in 1992 knew of me, and she had also told her three children about me since they were small tikes and thus I was no secret to them either. Turns out she even knew my name.

So, at this time I'm planning on flying up to Kelowna BC for Canada's Thankgiving Day, October 8th, and meeting my "clan north of the 49th Parallel".

Yep, I'm a bit stoked about this whole chain of events, as you can probably tell.

(ya see...sometimes them there gov'ment types can do good after all...kind'a anyway)

Very cool.Happy for you.Sounds like you had a good life with you adopted family.Hope you enjoy meeting you birth mom.Sounds like it might work out to be good summer ride up there for you to visit them.Good luck.

Thanks Michael! Yep! My Mom and Pop were the best. I guess that might be why it took me 55 years to finally look up my "other mom", but I'm sure glad I finally did. And she sure was thrilled.

Nice, Dwight! You have given your "other mom" a very special gift by finding her.

Correction Dwight, you're pretty stoked, eh? After all, you're Canadian now!!


Congrats and very cool!

Dwight:

Wow, congratulations! I know you have to be big time looking forward to that trip.

Remember to behave!!!

Mike

Practice saying "eh?" and "hoser"

Wow! That is some pretty darn exciting news!

Are you going to be able to meet your other siblings? Do they ride Triumphs?

Soren

Thanks everybody! Appreciate all the thumbs up here.

And Soren, regarding the Triumph question....THIS is gonna amaze ya....EH?!

Yesterday, while talking to "mom" for the second time, I told her I had been into motorcycles almost all my life, she told me that one of my half-brothers who teaches computer science courses at Waterloo University in eastern Canada(near Toronto) had ridden motorcycles for years also but lately got away from it and is into ballooning nowdays. And then she said, "But, I think he still has this one classic british-made motorcycle that he bought new about 30 years ago and it's still in the crate that it came in or something. It's some kind of anniversary model or something."

Of course I asked her if it was a Triumph, and she said, "Why yes! It is a Triumph, now that I recall!" And I told her that it probably was one of the "Silver Jubilee" models that commemorated the 25th year of Queen Elizabeth's reign. And then I told her that I've been a confirmed Triumph Man for years and have 3 of them.

Well, last night I phoned my half-brother Grant for the first time and we talked for about half an hour, and evidently he still owns that special edition '77 Bonnie, and even thought it is out of the crate, it has never been prepped to ride. Zero miles reads the "clock". I asked him if he still has the certificate that came with the bike, and Grant said, "Yeah! It's around here somewhere alright."

This is all very cool Dwight. I hadn't read this thread yet until today.Hope all either went or goes well with the visit.Almost makes me want to find my dad after 32 years.

Thanks Ian. Yep! You probably should make that attempt also.

Unfortunately, I was advised my biological father passed away 3 years ago and also lived his whole life in Kelowna. My mother told me he was well liked by all who knew him.

(okay...so maybe the apple DOES fall far from the ol' tree sometimes, ALRIGHT???!!!)

Wow, that is cool eh. Good luck on yer trip Hoser. My mom told me my late dad had another son and he's somewhere in town but have to figure which one he is so someday I gotta get the nerve to make inqisative calls. again, enjoy the trip.

mike

Hey Dwight,
I've got a GREAT idea! Why don't you post your "other Mom's " phone number on the forum. That way we can all call and entertain her with amusing anectdotes about her long lost son.
Whadaya think?
Mike

Are you KIDDIN', Mike???!!!

I'm starting to look forward to this trip up north, and I sure as heck don't want my mother to get any second thoughts about this whole meetin' with me thing!!!

(yeah...I'm real sure my "Triumph family" 'round here would just LOVE to enlighten my new "Hoser family" about what they've got in store for 'em up there, HUH?!....yep! I think I'll keep the "inlaws" apart for the time being, if you don't mind!)

Congrats Dwight. Last year I came back into contact with a daughter who had been adopted as an infant. It has been an ouststanding relationship. Hope yours goes as well.

Best of luck to you Dwight. Hope all goes well for you with your long lost family.

Hope you have a great reunion.

Wow Dwight, that's amazing!
What a development after so many years.
Good for you Sir and a big "Well Done!" to Judie.

Regarding your brother's Triumph, I have one word for you:

"Fratricide."

Well, I suppose SOMEBODY has to put the first few miles on that thing, huh John?!

Amazing story... almost film material. Good luck with your reunion m8.

Congratulations Dwight! I'm real happy for you. Hope everything goes well for you.

That's very cool Dwight. It'll be inyeresting to hear how the meeting goes
(too bad they won't be able to tell their side ).

My wife's brother just met, about two months ago, his daughter that he hadn't seen for 23 years. She was two when he and his then wife divorced very acrimoniously.

We've met her too, and her husband and two year old son.
It's a good feeling, meeting those you thought you might never meet.

Good for you, Dwight.
I'm adopted too, & fortunate to have had great adoptive parents.
I can identify with a Paul Cotton line from Poco's "Old Forgiver" -
"The lucky son of an unknown mother".
I met Paul a while back.
Nice guy.
Thought later I should have asked if he was adopted.

The flights up to Kelowna BC were uneventful this past thursday, but once Judie and I drove up in front of "Ma's" house, it was a moment that'll be forever frozen in my mind.

Yep! I finally met my birth mother, and what a lovely lady she is.(BTW, "lovely" is Ma's favorite word, and she says the word like it's coming right from the heart, and every time she said the word, it melted mine)

And yep, there were "just a few" teary eyes evident at that first hug.

My half-brother Phil drove 7 hours from Calgary to be there, and my half-sister Cheyne was there from a little town about an hour and a half away. Judie and I also met a whole bunch of my other very friendly and most welcoming canadian relatives. And, for some reason it never seemed strange at all. It seemed as if everything just sort of "fit together". What a great reception we received from all of my "new family".

Kelowna B.C. is one BEE-YOU-TEE-FUL place! With a population of about 200,000, it sits on the eastern shore Lake Okanaga, which is about 80 miles long and averages about 2 miles wide. The lake is nestled within pine covered mountains, and is situated in what is called the Canadian Lake District, between the Cascades and Rockies mountain chains. Just an absolutely beautiful place. It presently is in the midst of a building boom, as canadian "boomers" from the plains and eastern provinces are moving there in droves as they retire. When Judie and I arrived last thursday the deciduous trees were in their fall colors, blazing in hues of yellow, orange and red.

All in all, after meeting the people who share a bit of my DNA, I have to say...WHAT THE HECK TOOK ME SO LONG TO DO THIS???

Possible answer: My adopted Mom and Pop were the best(both have passed on within the last few years), and so this urge never really was all that strong, but now that I've got a "new" Ma, I'm kind'a sorry I never took the time to look her up until now.

(how much of a lucky SOB am I???!!! I can now count TWO "lovely ladies" as being "my mother" over the years)

Hey Dwight, I'm very glad it all worked out very well for you!

Soren

Thanks Soren.

I have to say it couldn't have worked out better(or more joyous) than it did!

Dwight,
To quote your 'new' mom - "Lovely!" - it's absolutely lovely. Ain't no better word to describe it. I had missed this entire thread untile this morning, and it was really heart warming to read it.

Besides all the wonderful family things to come out of it, I suppose you already realize this will now give you two opportunities to try out for the next Olympics - And, you'll also have a place to go if the Vietnam War escalates.

Now that you are officially Canadian, is there any chance you can get me a personal audience with Red Green?

All kidding aside - LOVELY - REALLY LOVELY. Enjoy every minute of this adventure. You've been blessed in this ordeal many times over from birth to now. Most importantly, it's evident you realize and appriciate that. It's truly LOVELY!

Barry

Dwight,

Glad it all is working out so well, that's good stuff. BTW: When in BC cafe's, order "brown" bread, not "wheat". Maybe you can plan a trip back to Ma's house next July??

jh

Wow Dwight, you are very lucky indeed, and what a great story!!!!! Despite all the doom and gloom in the news these days and around the world, it's nice to see something go TERRIFICALLY RIGHT!!! Congratulations!