Bryan had become an extraordinary young man.He was an Eagle Scout at the age of 13, Arkansas's youngest ever. (The Boy Scouts are a character-building organization, and few boys rise to the top level; to become an Eagle Scout is like receiving a grand testimonial to one's virtue and versatility.) He had been a football star in high school. After attending Brigham Young University for one year, he had served a two-year stint as a representative of his church in South Korea. Now he was preparing to return to university. I told his mother that I believed we had made the right decision 22 years earlier; the next day she called to say how much the comment meant to her.
As it happened, Linda's eldest daughter would also be a sophomore at BYU that fall, and her next eldest daughter would be at the branch campus in Idaho. I told him that his half-siblings were unaware of his existence; Linda subsequently decided to tell her children about Bryan. They were surprised and curious to find out what their new brother was like. The two girls were quick to set up a rendezvous with their tall, fair-haired, blue-eyed half-brother on the BYU campus in Utah, but birth mother and son have yet to meet.
母親的心情記錄：女兒未婚懷孕以后
那天，我剛剛從稅務(wù)局辦完了個(gè)人所得稅的審計(jì)，那地方誰都認(rèn)為就像是在牙科醫(yī)生的椅子上那么難熬。審計(jì)進(jìn)行得挺順利，而我總算松了一口氣。為了慶賀我便買了一支冰淇淋坐到車?yán)铮_始讀大女兒琳達(dá)寄來的信，她當(dāng)時(shí)是大一的學(xué)生�！坝H愛的媽媽，”信是這樣開頭的，“我知道，當(dāng)你獲知自己要成為外祖母時(shí)一定會(huì)非常吃驚。”琳達(dá)20歲，還沒有結(jié)婚。我的第一反應(yīng)就是：“這不行！我自己是一個(gè)沒有工作的離了婚的中年婦女，我再也不想多撫養(yǎng)孩子了！”家里還有一個(gè)6歲和12歲的孩子，我一人撫養(yǎng)孩子可是不容易，特別是只靠那點(diǎn)兒有限的收入。然而，在我仔細(xì)考慮了女兒當(dāng)前的感受之后，我給她打了電話，建議她上完這學(xué)期的課之后回家，我們會(huì)想出解決問題的辦法。
那個(gè)男孩是工程系大一的學(xué)生，他的父母也十分冷靜，但他們的基本想法似乎是不管事情怎樣，都要確保不能影響他們兒子的前途。結(jié)婚從未被他們認(rèn)真考慮過，他們想讓我女兒做流產(chǎn)。至少醫(yī)療費(fèi)不是大問題；雖說我下崗了，但我的醫(yī)療保險(xiǎn)還有效，只需交很少的保險(xiǎn)費(fèi)，這項(xiàng)保險(xiǎn)也包括我女兒的醫(yī)藥費(fèi)，總數(shù)約幾千美元，但不包括嬰兒所需的費(fèi)用。
到了期末，女兒回來了。出于宗教上的原因，她很快就排除了做流產(chǎn)的選擇。找人領(lǐng)養(yǎng)是個(gè)值得考慮的主意。但是想到我們州的福利機(jī)構(gòu)辦理的領(lǐng)養(yǎng)使孩子與生身母親之間處于徹底隔絕的狀態(tài)，我們又不太愿意這樣做。福利機(jī)構(gòu)會(huì)為孩子選擇一個(gè)新的家庭，而孩子的命運(yùn)對(duì)我們來說將一無所知。一天，琳達(dá)說道，她希望我們能在離家比較遠(yuǎn)的地方找一個(gè)領(lǐng)養(yǎng)孩子的家庭：這個(gè)家庭要受過良好的教育，已經(jīng)有了一個(gè)孩子(這樣?jì)雰壕筒粫?huì)是家中孤獨(dú)的獨(dú)生子)，而且喜愛動(dòng)物，與自己有同樣的宗教信仰，經(jīng)濟(jì)上寬裕，有一個(gè)溫馨的家庭，在這個(gè)家里母親不外出工作。兩天后，我的在阿肯色州當(dāng)律師的哥哥打來電話，說他妻子認(rèn)識(shí)的一個(gè)人的朋友，頭年生下的女嬰出人意料地夭折了，而悲傷的母親不能再生孩子，這個(gè)家庭特別想領(lǐng)養(yǎng)一個(gè)孩子--他問我們是否有意和這家談?wù)勵(lì)I(lǐng)養(yǎng)的事？我們收到了一封長(zhǎng)信，信中詳細(xì)介紹了這個(gè)家庭，他們的情況與我們所希望的領(lǐng)養(yǎng)家庭哪兒哪兒都合適。這可真是不可思議。琳達(dá)和我立刻就意識(shí)到這是我們尋求的解決辦法。
※本文作者：佚名※