"Was it fate that led me to chat to that particular couple on a beach in Menorca? They turned out to be the key to many questions I had about my family history."
I am 60, very happily married to David, with a son, a daughter, a daughter-in-law, and a son-in-law - all of whom I think the world of and four beautiful grandchildren, Daniel, Hannah, Sophie and Emily.
Since it all happened I've always marvelled at how it all came about - that when you least expect it, something can change your life so dramatically.For me to share not only mine, but to sit with others and share their experiences has been somethign I'll always remember. To learn to work on a computer has been an experience in itself for me...Until now I've never understood how to switch one on!
Things happen for a reason... Was it fate that led me to chat to that particular couple on a beach in Menorca? They turned out to be the key to many questions I had about my family history. I have known from a small child that I was adopted. I was very lucky: I had a wonderful childhood and couldn't have loved my adopted parents more. When I was older, and with children of my own I decided to search for my birth mother, but without a great deal of success. Until I met that couple. Like you do, on holiday, chatting to the other Brits. They told us they lived in Preston. Well, I didn't know much about my family tree, but I knew that's where I was born in a hospital that used to be a workhouse - it must've been horrible for my mother to have her baby in such a place. This couple told me they passed that same hospital every day. I couldn't believe this was happening. They offered to help me with my search. With their help and after trolling through archives of marriages, deaths and birth certificates I found out that my birth mother had died. But before she did she remarried and had another daughter. This daughter was called Janice. Like me. To see that up on the screen was such a thrill. But it was nothing compared to how I felt when I first met her. I recognized her straight away as she got off the train at Crewe Station. I could see the likeness. I've only experienced this as my son and daughter have been growing up - Oh! He's like you or - she looks just like you when you were her age. Now I had someone that I looked like, that looked like me, I had never known that before and it was a wonderful feeling. Jan still lives in Preston, only a short distance away from that wonderful couple, who by chance, fate, whatever, I happened to speak to on the beach in Menorca that day. | 
