Research into your roots can turn up uncomfortable information. I’ve been trying to track down my biological father, and after a few false starts, I found an interesting lead. Just a day later, I turned up some facts that have changed how I look at my biological parents.

Courtesy of the author

It’s possible (though I as yet have no hard proof) that the relationship between my mother and father was unsavory. It would be easy to say that this doesn’t bear on me — they chose to pursue this relationship, I wasn’t even around. It would also be easy to stop looking around.

But this is me, and I won’t stop. With luck, I’ll find out that I’m dead wrong.

Why Is It so Hard to Talk to My Adoptive Parents About My Birth Mother?