There was a teenage girl watching Gina. She looked oddly familiar. Then, it hit her. It was the baby she had given up for adoption 17 years ago.
But how could she explain this to her daughter? Would she forgive her?
Gina Crotts
Gina Crotts from Saratoga Springs, Utah, was happily married to her husband, Brandon. They had three children together — a daughter and two sons.
Gina always felt like a part of her was missing. It was her daughter Kalyn whom she hadn't seen since birth. Neither her husband nor her children knew that Gina had another daughter.
Difficult Decision
When Gina was in her late teens, she made the most difficult decision of her life. She gave her daughter up for adoption.
She felt so guilty about it and it was getting more and more difficult to hide this secret from her loved ones. But one day, they would all find out the truth.
Positive
“The double red lines on my pregnancy test kept presenting itself, in my mind, like flashing neon lights," Gina recalls.
"Positive.Positive. Positive. That $6.99 plastic stick read everything about me, my past, my future, and who I would be labeled as for the rest of my life." She was only 19 years old at the time.
"I'll be ok"
Gina felt like she was still a child herself. She wasn't ready to become a mother. She tried to calm herself down as she got into a hot bubble bath.
“I’m fine. I can do this. It’s ok. I’ll be ok.” But she had a choice to make and she had to make it now.
Adoption
She decided to carry her baby to full term and then give her up for adoption. “It was really hard… the whole pregnancy leading up to that one moment of delivery that’s supposed to be joyous, bringing life into the world… “she recalls.
“It was a mix of grief and happiness… but knowing what was coming after, a lot of heartache.”
Kalyn
“She spent a night with me and my family in my parents’ home before placing her the next day,” Gina remembers.
“Having time with her outside of the hospital helped a lot.” Fortunately, Kalyn was adopted by a wonderful couple who provided her with everything she wanted. But Gina would never forget her daughter. And one day, they would meet again.
Reunited
When Gina's daughter Evie turned 13, she signed her up for dance class. As she entered the class, she noticed a young girl staring at her through the window.
Gina couldn't believe her eyes when she realized who she was. It was her daughter Kalyn! She recognized her birth mother immediately.
In Shock
“I was sitting with my back to the window, I turned back and that single wall and six feet were all that was between us," Gina recalls.
But would Kalyn want to talk to her?
Hesitation
“I was shocked at first, then a second later full of sheer excitement, then hesitation in case she didn’t want to see me,” Gina wrote.
“I stopped at the door, I didn’t want to walk out and see her walking away because she wasn’t ready. Her adoptive dad gave her a choice, I didn’t want to confuse her and needed to be sure it was what she wanted.”
Cautious
Gina didn't know how Kalyn would react. “I could have run out there in a heartbeat, but I was cautious for her feelings,” Gina explained.
“When I opened the door, she was standing in front of me.”
One Simple Question
“The first thing I asked her was, ‘Are you happy?’ she said ‘Yes’ and we were hugging, I had to pull away because I wanted to look at her."
“We couldn’t help but stare at each other, as we talked for longer, we would just look at each other and laugh. It really is wild to think about the odds and was such a great moment for me, I feel very fortunate.”
Recognized
But how did Gina recognize her daughter?
It turned out that Kalyn's adoptive parents had sent Gina photographs of her grown daughter every year.
Updates
“I would receive a letter and a few pictures every year, I was given quite a bit of detail on how she was doing, how her life was going, and more," Gina said.
"I got to know a little of how happy she was, her hobbies and seeing the pictures helped to settle my heart.”
Friends
After the encounter at the dance class, Evie and Kalyn exchanged numbers and become friends.
“We are very fortunate it played out in this way, I’m very aware most birth moms don’t get this experience and I’m very fortunate for how my story ended up,” Gina said. “Placing her for adoption didn’t mean I forgot about her but pushed me to be a better person, I wanted to be someone she would be proud to meet someday."