http://politics.guardian.co.uk/homeaffairs/story/0,11026,1188919,00.html

Every phone call a bonus

Paul Traynor
Friday April 9, 2004
The Guardian

The first Hessie Edwards knew that the son she had put up for adoption was
looking for her was in July 1988, when she got a call from his wife. It was the
end of the seven-year search Andrew Blackwell had begun when he was 18.

"I didn't believe who it was at first," Mrs Edwards, from Deal, Kent, said.
"But since then everything in our lives - every visit, email or phone call we
share - has been a bonus."

Mrs Edwards had put her child up for adoption because of the shame she thought
a single mother would bring on her family.

It was only through luck and resourcefulness that her son was able to find her.
He found, through her marriage certificate, that her husband was a retired
Royal Marine. Mr Blackwell was in the navy, so he searched naval towns for his
mother's married name.

"My husband got a call from the records department at the navy and it was at
the same time that I received a call from Andrew's wife," Mrs Edwards said. "We
did everything against the book. We had never even heard of intermediary
agencies - you're supposed to build up to meeting each other. We did it all in
a week."



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A good friend will come and bail you out of jail . . . but, a true friend will
be sitting next to you saying, "Damn . . . that was fun!"
-----Unknown