I spent most of that night drafting my message to Regina Christmas. I didn’t want to sound creepy (“I have something your grandfather wants”) or ditzy (“We might be cousins!”). I wanted to make sure my case was convincing, but I didn’t want it to be so long that she’d get overwhelmed. My mom tried to weigh in, but I kept shooting down her ideas until she announced that I had to do this on my own and finally left me to figure it out. Close to two hours later, I had a one-paragraph message that wasn’t perfect, but was as close as I was going to get. I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and hit SEND.
I didn’t expect a reply instantly. England is five hours ahead of Baltimore, so my message arrived in the middle of the night there. But I was bummed when there was no reply the next morning, or at lunchtime, or after school. Mrs. Coleman even called my house around dinnertime, and I could hear her disappointment when I said I hadn’t heard back yet. Another day passed, and another. Had Regina deleted my message, or flagged it as spam? Did she think I was a lunatic?
On day four, I googled her brother, Theodore Christmas. He wasn’t on Facebook, but I tracked down what was probably his email address. How much longer should I wait before trying my luck with him? Or would that only make me seem like more of a psycho?
As the days dragged by, my anxiety spilled over to the other decision I still had to make, about whether or not to try and find my birth parents. Would trying to contact my birth mother be like this? Waiting and waiting and checking and hearing nothing and losing hope drip by drip?
I went to the mall with Parker and Magda over the weekend, and Parker brought her It’s better to have loved and lost tote bag with her. I seethed at those glittery letters. If Regina was never going to write back, it would have been better not to have found possibly-Oliver at all.
And then, exactly one week after I found her, Regina replied. It was like she was waiting until I could open the message at Hebrew school, surrounded by people who’d become invested in our story.
I wanted to read it privately first, just in case she totally shot me down. But Madeline was right next to me when I logged in, and she shouted, “She replied!”
Everyone came running, and Mrs. Coleman did a little excited clap. I clicked to open the message. It was short. I cleared my throat and read aloud:
Hi Imani,
At first I thought your story was rather nutty. My brother didn’t think I should even tell Granddad about it. It could be upsetting to him, couldn’t it? I finally decided we had to at least tell him . . . and he thinks it just might be true! He says he has a fuzzy memory of a sister who left for America, and the name Anna, but he wasn’t sure if it was real or not. Can we all set a Skype date, to talk some more and get this sorted? Granddad wants to be there, of course. This weekend’s no good, but we’re available the following weekend. Saturday the 6th? Prepare your best evidence! You don’t want to break an old man’s heart. ; )
Regina
The class erupted in cheers. I laughed. Who’d have thought my family history would turn into a group sport?
Ethan gave me a big hug. “You’re going to Skype with her!”
Madeline hugged me from the other side. “You’re going to see Oliver!”
This was all so surreal. How was I going to wait until June 6? It felt like forever. But my bat mitzvah was just a week after that, so Grandpa Fred would already be in town. He could be there to see Oliver too, which was perfect. If only it weren’t too late for Grandma Anna to be there. Imagine that reunion!
My mental seesaw tipped strongly to the find your birth parents side. If finding them would feel half as good as this, I was all in.
Don’t get too excited just yet, I told myself. It’s entirely possible that Oliver Christmas is not Oliver Hirsch. But it was entirely possible that he was. Either way, I’d find out on June 6.
There was one last part of Regina’s message, a P.S. that I didn’t read aloud.
P.S. You said you’re adopted. Where are you from originally?
It was entirely possible I’d know that by June 6 too.