Lost and Found

It's funny to think about the things we take for granted everyday...

Little things like the convenience of a grocery store, the gas station to power our vehicles, the laughter of our children and so on and so forth. Some people may not think so, but I think a lot of people take their parents for granted.

Last night, Angie (my sister-in-law) called Allyn.
She found their mom.

For those of you that don't know, Allyn and Angie haven't spoken to their mom in 7 years or so. She has no idea she has grandchildren, no idea that we live in Illinois, no idea that Angie is going to school, no idea that her son is getting married in a few months. It's a long, long story of what happened. Those of you who know Allyn well have definitely heard it. So for us to just suddenly find her is insane, sudden, unexpected and any other word that describes being utterly flabbergasted.

This isn't the first time Angie or Allyn has tried to find their mom. They've Googled her, paid money on websites that find people, even sent messages to people like Ellen Degeneres asking for help. They've found some luck finding phone numbers and such, but no one ever answers.

So how did they find Shannon all the sudden? How is it that she just appeared out of no where when she's been nearly invisible for 7 years?

Apparently Angie just went to Google, typed in "Shannon Johnson Raymond WA"  and found her Google+ profile. After looking at her profile we learned she probably created her account a few days after her 2nd grandson, Zander, was born.

Her profile is listed as public. Allyn thinks their mom did this on purpose. We were able to read all her posts, learning that she has 2 dogs, a cat and is still married to Mark. She's a police officer in the Army and it looks like she might be getting deployed again soon.

Maybe after all these years, she finally wants to be found. Maybe she's finally curious as to where her children are but didn't know how to go about finding them. I don't know. Hopefully soon we'll find out. Allyn and Angie both created Google+ accounts and added Shannon to their family circle. They both just want their mom back, and it seems as if they have finally found a way back to her.

For Angie, Shannon was never really there as much for her from what I understand. She's lived most of her life living in Independence, WI with the Roskos family. Jim Roskos is Allyn and Angie's "dad." He was married to Shannon when Allyn and Angie were born. Even though he's not the biological father to either of them, he and his family have done everything for them as if they were his children. They're an amazing family with huge, loving hearts. Anyway, from what I understand, Angie would go and visit Allyn and their mom in Tacoma, WA once a year up until she was a tween. Then the visits stopped. Angie wants to know why. She wants to know what she did. She wants to know who her real dad is, or at least the story behind what happened. She wants answers.

Allyn wants answers too, but what he really wants is his best friend back. Once they patch things up (if she wants to that is) then he'll press for some answers. Until then, we're just waiting to see if she replies. He lived with their mom in Tacoma for most of his life. She taught him everything, talked to him all the time, told him he could do whatever he set his mind to among many other things a mom will say and do. They had a strong bond, but it slowly started to fall apart. Shannon's new husband, Mark, sounded like somewhat of a tyrant. He didn't like Allyn and Allyn didn't like him. When it came down to it, Shannon chose Mark over Allyn. Of course he wants to know what she was thinking, why did she pick this jerk over her own son and daughter, but he wants to reconcile with her before asking any more questions.

After finding Shannon last night, Allyn thought long and hard about what he wanted to say to his mom after all these years. I held Zander, and Allyn held Corvin and we waited for them to fall asleep. Once Corvin was in his crib and Zander was sound asleep, Allyn went straight to the computer, turned on some Kings of Leon and started typing. He wrote down just a fraction of the thoughts and feelings he's had about his mom over the past 7 years. He expressed how much he missed her, how he's not contacting her for money, answers or anything like that. He understands if she doesn't write back to him because she might be embarrassed, angry, or feeling any other emotion about her actions (or lack there of) for the past 7 years. It was kind of a leap of faith for him. He says that if she doesn't respond he wont be too heartbroken. She hasn't tried contacting him or Angie for a long time so if she continues to ignore them it wont really change much. I hope she does respond. It would make Allyn and Angie so happy to have their mom back again. She's been gone for so long, they have a lot to catch up on! She's a grandma and doesn't even know it, and I'm sure she has a lot of things to tell them too. What a beautiful reunion it would be...

If she doesn't respond....I guess that just shows how much she doesn't care. That means she created her profile and forgot to set it to private. It means she's content with the fact that she abandoned two AMAZING people.

I just don't want to believe that the other grandmother to my children is that kind of person. I want to be optimistic that Shannon will respond and try to reconnect with her own children. I want to meet my future mother-in-law and I want Allyn and Angie to be reunited with her.

We'll just have to wait and see what happens.

Obviously, this particular situation doesn't apply to everyone, but it's still a reminder to not take someone like your mom or dad for granted. There are people out there like Allyn and Angie who don't talk to their mom and don't know who their biological fathers are. I don't know who my dad is, from what I understand he knew about me but didn't want to be in my life. If you have both parents in your life right now, be thankful. You're luckier than you think.

Until tomorrow,
♥ Taber

Allyn and Angie with Corvin and Zander ♥