Yesterday I told the list about my adoption and the secretive attitude of my adoptive parents--by which I really meant my adoptive mother, Louise. I had been in contact with my birth mother, Marianna, since 1977, and had visited her and met my half-siblings (although Marianna was from Jacksonville, Florida, all of them had resettled in California). When Louise died in 1980 I finally told my adoptive father the story. He was so interested in it, and I gave him Marianna's address and suggested that he write to her. Pretty soon they were corresponding and talking on the phone, and eventually they met and fell in love. My 78-year-old Daddy sold his house in South Georgia, packed a few belongings in his car, and drove to California, where he and Marianna were married. Unfortunately, Daddy died of emphysema a few years later, but I think it was really a positive experience for both of them, and it certainly was for me. --- Carolyn Long --- carolynlong@earthlink.net