Unexpected News
Sitting down on the bench under the shining sun, Melanie was waiting for her 2-year boyfriend to come to their meeting place. She was currently in the back garden of their school. Shaking nervously, she prepared herself to tell him some sort of bad news for her and her boyfriend.
Melanie is only 18 years of age and she was in her 12th grade in senior high school. She grew up in a middle-class family and she was somehow a YOLO type of a person. However, her free adventures have led her to a mediocre result. She received news that will change her life forever!
Unexpected Pregnancy
Earlier that day, Melanie had taken a pregnancy test, and she had found out that she was pregnant. She was in a state of great shock from what she had discovered. She was feeling unusual the past few days and got her period delayed, and so she jokingly tried on the pregnancy test.
She did not expect it to come out positive because it never crossed her mind that she would become pregnant at such a young age.
Fear of the Consequence
Upon learning about her pregnancy, she felt afraid and cold chills were sent down in her body, which made her quiver. Holding the pregnancy test kit, she hurriedly called her boyfriend to meet her at the back garden of the school. She told him that she had something important to say to him.
Her boyfriend annoyingly answered and agreed to her before he dropped the call. Melanie, who was in the comfort room of the school's gym, was still processing everything in her system.
Healthy Baby
At 37 weeks, Melanie delivered a healthy baby boy named Greg. She used up her remaining money to pay her hospital bills. Even though she was still young at the time, she has nurtured the responsibility of sustaining her and her baby’s needs.
However, the past weeks have been stressing her out and coming to the thought that she does not have the fullness of becoming a mother to her child.
Adoption
Considering all issues that she and her family encountered, Melanie decided to bring her child into adoption. With a heavy heart, she accepted the fact that she lacked support in raising her child. Fortunately, she found a foster family where Greg could experience having both a mother and a father that he could lean on as he grows up.
Giving up Greg for adoption is such a crucial decision for her, but she was eased by the idea that Greg’s foster parents are kind and generous. She knew in herself that they would fill Greg with all the love and support that he needed.
Separate Lives
Years passed, Greg grew up blissfully with his foster parents while Melanie went on with her life as she found another love of her life. Melanie fell in love for the second time. She was happily married to him, and they had three kids.
Even so, she has always thought about Greg and not a single day that he never remembers him. Going on with her life, she has always felt sad about what she did just to give Greg the life he deserves.
Greg Knew about His Adoption
After three decades, Greg has always been curious about her birth parents. He discovered the truth of his reality when he was still young, so he has always thought of ways to find his roots. His foster parents told him that he was adopted when he was 9 or 10 years old. Greg was grateful to his foster parents because they have offered him the love as if he was their child.
He has never felt like he was an outcast. Instead, he felt home despite knowing the truth about his adoption.
Determined to Know the Truth
Greg was now a married man to his beautiful wife. They had two cute little boys. Even if he was living his best life, Greg wanted to know more about who he was. He tried to fill the gap of emptiness in his heart that truths can only fulfill.
He started to question things like he does not know his medical history, genetics, and where he is from. With his burning passion for understanding his reality, he became more determined and motivated to learn the truth.
23AndMe
Greg then happened to have known about the promotion of 23AndMe. 23AndMe is a Biotechnological company that offers direct-to-consumer DNA tests that aid people in discovering the origin of their genetics. Being hopeful of knowing where he came from, Greg intuitively took the test.
He has somehow given his hopes a higher level of confidence as he stands by and waits for someone to match his DNA.
Searching for her Son
Meanwhile, Melanie has been experiencing another hurdle in life as her mother passed away the current year. With this, Melanie was pushed to the limit of doing what she had always wanted to do, finding her firstborn son, Greg.
She shared that while she was crying, she uttered the words that she needed to find her son, who also saw her in return. Melanie’s drive to search for her son has fueled up her determination.
Positive Test Results
Melanie’s birthday was in May. During her birthday, Melanie’s daughter bought her a 23AndMe test kit as a birthday gift. Melanie, who is also eager to find her son, took the test too. With just as easy as the step of a home-based saliva collection and mailing back the kit to the lab, Melanie also has high hopes that she will be able to find her son in the nearest time.
With that said, Melanie was excited to hear the results of the tests done. The results came as a shock to both Melanie and Greg! They were speechless.
Results Came Matched
The tests came for both Melanie and Greg days after delivering a 23AndMe test kit to the lab. The results showed that both Melanie Pressley and Greg Vossler are 99.999% related, and it only means that Greg was Melanie’s long-lost son.
The two were very happy with the result, and they gladly connected. Melanie took the lead in their communication as she was the first to send her son a message. Merrily, Greg also eagerly replied to her.
Reconnecting
“I believe we’re related. I believe I am your birth mother.” These were Melanie’s messages to Greg as soon as she reached out to him. Nonetheless, Greg felt like it was all a surreal feeling having to come to know where he was really from. He’s also glad to have been given the opportunity of finding her mother.
In June, Melanie and Greg met for the first time again after 33 years, and it was such a beautiful memory to capture. The two hugged and chatted with each other as if finally getting in touch with the missing puzzles of their lives.
Realizations
“Life has a funny way of giving you what you need, not what you want. We realized we needed this connection, and our families needed each other.”, Greg uttered. The two continually communicated with each other, introducing a more prominent family to their original family. Indeed, life has always had its twists that may never fathom our expectations. Melanie and Greg are now delighted that their missing pieces are now finally found.
The story of Melanie and Greg was just one of a kind. Undoubtedly, it was a great story. Even though Melanie has to let her son go for adoption and even though this was a wrong decision to make, for Melanie, as a mother, this was the right choice that she needed to act on. Melanie still gave Greg the greatest gift a mother can give her child and that is his life.
A Great Mother
She has born him into this world, and this is one of the greatest treasures that Greg would forever cherish. Melanie is still a great mother because she gave her son life, and she made sure that Greg’s foster parents would love and nurture him the way she wanted to do so. They have received the blessing of meeting each other again, which would have never been possible if Melanie had had an abortion.
By all means, it is their fate to meet because their mother’s and son’s love for each other will always lead them back to each of them. Now, they can enjoy the rest of their lives showing how much they love each other and value every moment they are to share as they keep up with the lives of one another.
Featuring of the Story
This story was featured in News 5 Cleveland, and many people reacted to it. People’s reactions were mostly positive comments. They got inspired and have learned important life lessons from the story of Melanie and Greg.
Their mother and son story brings us realizations that we need to treasure the persons that we love, especially our mothers and fathers, as a way of expressing our gratitude and appreciation for all their love and sacrifices.
Melanie Looks Young
Some of the comments say that Melanie looks young for her age, which is 51 years old. Hence, it’s never possible because she gave birth to Greg at 18 years old, and it is undeniably young for her to bear a child. Nevertheless, despite being young, Melanie faced her consequence with responsibility.
She did not dwell on the action that would leave her a choice of choosing abortion as a solution to her problems. She has developed a sense of opening her eyes to the reality of life even at a young age.
A Hunk Dad
With Greg’s physical appearance, people think that his dad might be a hunk. They also believe that his dad might be a jock who is an athletic person. Greg is a well-built man, and they are referring to him as a considerable person.
With this, they came up with the idea that Greg might have gotten his physical characteristics from his father to which he had also never met before. For now, Greg is content with knowing his birth mother, and step by step, knowing her birth father will just be done gradually.
Moral of the Story
People have been touched upon hearing the story of Melanie and Greg. Their meeting is a rare moment that every person who wishes to have met the people they are looking for would hope for such a moment that they had.
The moral of the story is that life may be harsh to us, but it also has many amazing stories to tell, just like Melanie and Greg’s. We may struggle a lot in our journey, but our path will direct us to our beautiful endings with great patience and perseverance.
A Great Story
The story of Melanie and Greg was just one of a kind. Undoubtedly, it was a great story. Even though Melanie has to let her son go for adoption, and even though this was a wrong decision to make, for Melanie, as a mother, this was the right choice that she needed to act on.
Giving Greg up, Melanie did not just do it because she is selfish but because she wanted to give her son what was best at that moment. It was also a painful decision for her.
Life is the Greatest Gift
Melanie still gave Greg the greatest gift a mother can give her child, and that is his life. She has born him into this world, and this is one of the greatest treasures that Greg would forever cherish. Giving Greg a life to live is more than enough to make Greg a blessing to his wife and children.
Greg’s life has served as a representation of how well his foster parents raised him because he did not blame his birth mother. Instead, he was genuinely happy to know her, and he wanted to know her more.
A Great Mother
Melanie is still a great mother because she gave her son life, and she made sure that Greg’s foster parents would love and nurture him the way she wanted to do so. As much as she tried to raise Greg on her own, her resources could not just sustain her and her baby during that time.
Also, she has limited access to other resources because she was a year away from being a minor. She may have lived a bad image as a mother for giving up her son for adoption, but she was still a great mother as she knew that it was the best choice she had to give her son a better life.
A Blessing
They have received the blessing of meeting each other again, which would have never been possible if Melanie had had an abortion. By all means, it is their fate to meet because their mother’s and son’s love for each other will always lead them back to each of them.
Now, they can enjoy the rest of their lives showing how much they love each other and value every moment they are to share as they keep up with the lives of one another. This time, they can now freely express their love and care for each other personally.
Great Ending
Melanie and Greg’s story taught us that what is meant for you will always find its way of going back to you. Their perseverance in finding each other is a reflection that they have always wanted to cherish each other.
Thus, for you, who is reading this, find time to give importance and value the best times that you are sharing with your loved ones because someone, out there, in this world, is longing for that moment of being with someone but cannot be.