Chapter 18

The next day, all the stress of thinking through the truth of how she came into this world finally catches up with Sol. She wakes up in the morning and immediately realizes there’s no way she can function at work. She takes a rare sick day and gets back in bed after quickly taking Jericho out in the backyard.

She sleeps for a couple more hours, decides to make herself some French toast, and then once she’s sufficiently fortified, spends the afternoon on her laptop looking up everything on her mind. Even just typing in “I just found out I’m adopted” in her search bar brings up a whole unexpected community of people called “late-discovery adoptees.” Evidently, the explosion of DNA testing, sold as “find your roots,” has led to a lot of unexpected consequences, which are not all happy. Some people are finding out their dad isn’t really their dad. Some people are finding out they were adopted as a baby. She hasn’t seen anyone yet who finds out their mom isn’t their mom, but she feels a little better knowing she’s not the only one who received shocking news like this in her late thirties.

The way people handle it varies. Some of them want to reconnect with their birth families. Some feel betrayed by family members who knew the truth but never told them. Some of them feel blessed when they realize they were rescued from a hard life. Some are excited to connect with family members they never knew they had. Most people say they feel confused and a mix of all these things. Sol definitely does.

Since the sun sets so much later this time of year, Sol is still looking things up into the evening and starts investigating the kidney donor and transplant process. She had only read the basics the other day, and already, that was so much information to understand. She remembers that she never talked to Dove after their texts the other day. She calls her now since she figures Dove should be out of work, despite the three-hour time difference. The call goes to voicemail after one ring, and then Sol gets a text, Can’t talk now. Call you later.

Sol wonders how she can communicate to Dove how important this is without telling her everything over a text or voicemail. She tells herself to be patient and that the world doesn’t revolve around her. She knows Dove is working hard to advance in a male-dominated field. Dove mentioned that she started going by her middle name, Emerson, at work, and Sol can read between the lines to guess that’s why Dove wears glasses with no prescription in them, walks the line between looking nice without being too pretty, dyes her hair darker, and always wears heels so she’s taller.

Sol finally texts back, Okay, please call me when you’re free this week! ❤

She continues reading about which blood types match each other, how the transplant process works and how they leave the old kidney in there, how many people are on the waiting list, and what the recovery is like.

Sol wonders if she’s warming up to the idea of donating a kidney. She tells herself she’s just educating herself so she can make an informed decision. She makes herself an ice-cream sundae to finish off her day, gives Jericho a squirt of whipped cream for being a good boy, and climbs into bed with her journal.