June, 1995- When I received a phone call from my sister Mona, I thought there was bad news, she never calls me in the middle of the week and specially in the afternoon. She was so excited, she had a hard time telling me what it was about. She finally told me she had received a phone call from a man saying he was from a catholic adoption agency in Gaspe. She told me she knew right away it had to be about my baby I gave up for adoption in 1964. He wanted my phone number and was not allowed to tell her why he wanted it. She said "I bet they found your little girl". My "little girl" was 31 yrs old at the time. Shortly after Mona talked to me, the man from the adoption agency called. I was so excited I was shaking. He told me he wasn't allowed to give me much information yet, but he did tell me that her adoptive parents gave her the same first name that I gave her at birth: Danielle. They told me a little bit of what she looked like. He said after I signed a consent form, I could get in touch with her. I called Chantal at work and she told me to call him and have him fax the form to her place of employment. I received it and faxed it the same day. The next day, he called me with her phone number and address and answered all my questions. I was so happy, I can't explain the feeling. I had my "little girl" back finally, 31 years later. That same evening, I talked with my oldest daughter for the very first time. I never had a chance to talk to her before,even at birth. God it felt so good to hear her voice. We spoke in english (my choice I think) but she could speak french just as well, better than me as a matter of fact. She sounded more like me than the 3 kids I raised. I found out I had another granddaughter born on her mom's birthday, 2/6/93. Her name: Natasha Lynn Buck. We decided to go to Canada as soon as we could. We made plans to go meet her in late June. Chan flew to Nova Scotia a few days ahead of us. As soon as Tania's boyfriend David could get some time off from work, he, Tania, Dustin and I left for Nova Scotia. I had made reservations on a ferry to take us from Bar Harbor, Maine to Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. It was a nice trip, except that we were very crowded in Dave's sports car. We drove all the way to Maine and arrived a day and a half before our ferry was due. We pitched a tent and spent the night not too far from Bar Harbor. The next day, we went down to the ocean. I was the only one that had seen the ocean before. Little Dustin, 3 1/2 yrs old just jumped in that cold water and we had a hard time getting him out. Since we were to load the ferry before 6:00 A.M. we decided not to stay in the tent that night and we went to a coffee shop and drank coffee until around 5:00 A.M. Then we went to the harbor to wait for it to open. They let us in around 5:30 A.M. Dustin pushed the fire alarm button and the alarm went off. Firemen came barging in a few minutes later. They couldn't stop the alarm, they finally had to turn off the power. As soon as we started moving, we went to the cafeteria for breakfast. Tania was sea sick right away. I was laughing about it because I felt fine. As soon as we couldn't see land anymore, I got so sick, I had to go out on the deck to get some fresh air. It was so cold I went back in and got sick again. I wasn't laughing anymore, Tania was sleeping and I was vomiting. I was looking for whales and all I spotted was 1 shark. It was a 6 hour ride to Halifax. We got there around 1:00 P.M. I called Danielle and she sent her husband, Rico to come and show us the way to her house in Darthmouth. Within a short while which seemed like an eternity Rico showed up. I was very nervous, scared and anxious. Anxious to meet her but afraid she would resent me for giving her up when she was a baby. I expected her to either not say a word or run in my arms, like they do in talk shows. I already knew that her mom & dad would be there, and that made me even more nervous. As soon as I walked in the door, I found out there was nothing to be nervous about. We hugged and I didn't want to let go of her but I was worried she would move away. That would make me feel like I was gonna lose her again, so I stopped myself. Her adoptive parents were real nice folks, I owe them so much for taking such good care of my little girl. I told her that I thanked God for giving her up for adoption. She was raised in a sober, happy family, not like the three I raised. We became friends right away. She looks more like me than Chantal & Tania do, except that she's short like her dad. She even has a wart on her cheek like my dad & I have. We had a lot of fun. Danielle plays guitar and sings country music. We went sightseeing all over Nova-Scotia. I never seen such a beautiful place. The ocean,the mountains and the tourist attractions, all gorgeous. We went to the Citadel on Canada Day, july second. Soldiers were all dressed in kilts and playing bagpipes. They're not allowed to talk or laugh. We stayed in Nova-Scotia for a week or so, then we went to visit my family up in Quebec. We drove through New-Brunswick, also a beautiful place but not as nice as Nova-Scotia. Dave, Tania and Dustin had never seen mountains before, they were taking pictures of everything. As soon as we entered Quebec,we drove through the Matapedia Valley, tall rocks sometimes on both sides of the road, or the Matapedia river on one side, the rocks on the other side. Falling rocks signs everywhere. I hadn't been in New-Richmond (my hometown) for so long, I had to stop and ask directions. New streets everywhere. I left years ago, just after they opened up a big paper mill and the small village was now a much bigger town. My mom and dad looked so much older, specially my dad, he looked tired all the time. We went swimming in the sea every day, it was so hot, that whole week was in the 90s. There was a big forest fire only 30 mile away. We stayed there about 5-6 days then came back home.
