system: You are Deeann.Hardy@Mdtnbbs.Com, a caller on a 1990s BBS posting in the Adoptees message echo. Write like a real BBS user of the era — plain, direct, in your own voice, no modern polish.

user: You are replying to Deeann.Hardy@Mdtnbbs.Com about "GENERAL: adoption book".

They wrote:
d> Hi all!! I would like to fill you all in on something I've
d> been doing for alittle while now. I'm very excited about it
d> too. :)  I've only told one other person (Sue, my good
d> friend) and even my mother doesn't know and we basically
d> share everything!! I have been working on a new book about my
d> search for my brother Eric (Michael Todd) and about my
d> mothers pain and the reunion, etc.... I would LOVE to include
d> your stories as well!!! If you would like to participate,
d> send me an e-mail to my AOL account at:   TRIAD2271@AOL.COM
d> and make it as long or as short as you like. I'll have better
d> luck printing it off on AOL than here as I have to go through
d> DOS to do it here and I stand a good chance of losing your
d> mail that way. Anyhow, include your name (first only) and
d> your whole story!! This is VERY exciting!! As you can tell,
d> it's 3am and I can't sleep because I was thinking about this
d> and so I had to get up to post it now. It was one of those
d> things that just couldn't wait!! :-)  I would be honored to
d> give your story the respect and dignity it deserves in
d> telling it to people who may not understand the *why's* in a
d> search. Tell the good and the bad! Here's a simple guideline
d> to use if you want to participate:
d> BPARENTS:
d> 1) How old were you when you knew there was a child coming?
d> 2) How did you tell your parents & what was their reaction?
d> 3) What were your circumstances at the time?
d> 4) Were you forced into your decision or did you agree it was
d> best?
d> 5) Where was the child born? A maternity home or hospital?
d> 6) Did you name your child? How did you come about the name?
d> 7) What were your thoughts and feelings about surrendering?
d> 8) How has that decision affected your life now?
d> 9) What made you decide to search? Were you afraid to start?
d> 10) What are you expecting from the search in general?
d> 11) Did you have family and friends who didn't know? How have
d> you told them now and what were their reactions?
d> 12) Was keeping "the secret" hard for you or did you *never*
d> make it a secret to begin with and why?
d> 13) What are your worse fears right now?
d> ADOPTEES:
d> 1) When were you told (if ever) that you were adopted?
d> 2) How did you take that news?
d> 3) When did you decide to search and why?
d> 4) What are your expectations now?
d> 5) What are your fantasies about your bparents?
d> 6) Do you hope to have siblings?
d> 7) Were you raised an only child or were their siblings
d> within the afamily unit?
d> 8) Were you raised with natural born children from your
d> aparents? If so, how did that affect your relationship to
d> your parents, if at all and do you think they showed
d> favoritism?
d> 9) Did you feel *lied to*?
d> 10) Do you have animosity towards your bfamily? Anger?
d> 11) If you found out there were other children in your
d> bfamily that were older than yourself, how would you feel
d> about them being with your bparent and you being adopted?
d> 12) Has adoption made you feel different?
d> APARENTS:
d> 1) What were the circumstances surrounding the decision you
d> made to adopt?
d> 2) Did you have natural born children also?
d> 3) How old was your child when you told them they were
d> adopted and what were your reasons at that time?
d> 4) How were you treated in society as an adoptive parent?
d> 5) Did you tend to *overprotect* your kids?
d> 6) What were your fears early on in the adoption process?
d> 7) What are your fears now and are you helping your child
d> search?
d> 8) What are your fantasies about the bparents? Fears?
d> 9) What made you decide to help your child search? Do you
d> feel threatened in any way?
d> 10) How did your family react to an adoption situation? Did
d> anyone treat *your* kids differently?
d> 11) What makes your child special to you?
d> What I'm looking for is *total honesty* and real feelings. I
d> will change any names and city/state if you like but I would
d> like to know as much as you're willing to give, including
d> dates, times, places, etc... This will all be added just as
d> you write it. The end result will not only be rewarding to me
d> and you but to the hundreds (hopefully) of folks out there
d> reading it who may have many of the same feelings and
d> concerns as you and I do. Of course, I don't know beforehand
d> how it will take off, if it even will, but I have hope and
d> inspiration (all of you guys) and I love trying new things
d> and this is something I've always dreamed of being, a writer.
d> :) What better way to start then by telling my own story and
d> giving you guys the chance to do it too? we would also be
d> educating many others in the process!! Don't forget that
d> e-mail if you want to do this with me!! If you don't feel
d> like typing it out and sending it to cyberspace, send it to
d> me via snail-mail at:
d> SEARCHING  PO BOX 7446  HARRISBURG,PA  17113-0446
d> Also, any friends or relatives you may want to have join in,
d> HEY!! The more the merrier!! Spread the word!! If you're on
d> another server, post a message somewhere! I'll save this
d> message to send to anyone interested.
d> Dee :-)

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assistant: Errors-To: postmaster@mdtnbbs.com
Reply-To: deeann.hardy@mdtnbbs.com
On Nov 02 1996 15:01, deeann.hardy@mdtnbbs.com, 1:270/0 wrote:
:)