Ashlee, a contestant on Season 13 of Relative Race, met her biological father and got to read the heartfelt diary entries her biological mother wrote on the day she gave birth.
Relative Race is a television show that reunites people with their biological family members. With their DNA as a roadmap and $50,000 on the line, four couples must race coast-to-coast and discover a different relative every day.
Adopted at birth, Ashlee had no information on her biological family. That’s until her maternal half-brother, Sean, had found her birth certificate in his late mother’s diary. He later hired a private investigator who then got in contact with Ashlee.
Although her birth mother, Pauline, passed away and Ashlee never got the opportunity to meet her, Sean shared their mother’s diary with her. A journal that gave Ashlee insight into the struggles her mother faced with placing her daughter for adoption.
This gave Ashlee insight into her mom’s loving decision to choose Life for her daughter. Only seventeen at the time, Pauline wrote heartfelt diary entries about how much she loved Ashlee, who she had called “Tina.”
One entry wrote, “I’m in my eighth month now, and the baby kicks very often. It’s a wonderful feeling and I love the thought of having one of my own. Soon I will be back home and things will be all the same. I just hope my mother and father never throw it up to me about having a baby. I love them but I love my baby too.”
“Reading it made me understand why she made the decision that she did,” Ashlee explained.
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“February 24th, I was in labor for several hours and at 5:24 little Tina made her arrival, brown hair and blue eyes. She’s my first little girl. I got to hold her then was my chance to give her what little I could, all the love and blessings of a beautiful life,” Pauline wrote.
Ashlee highlighted that reading those entries grew the love she had for her biological mother.
But Ashlee’s journey didn’t stop there. To her surprise, she also discovered her father, who had been waiting 55 years to meet her.
After walking up to her father, Don, she asked how they were related. “I’m your dad,” he said through his tears. They automatically shared a heartfelt and emotional hug.
“You don’t love anything more than your children, you know that right?” Don asked Ashlee. Then through his tears, he said, “So you know how much I love both of you.”
This was not only a special day for Ashlee and Don, but also for Ashlee’s daughter, Brennan, who stated at the beginning of the season she hoped to find her grandpa.
Don had shared he knew about Ashlee, but along with Pauline, knew adoption was the best chance she had at a good life, at least at that time. He expressed sorrow for not being able to see her grow up, along with her daughter.
“I love my baby and my grand baby, why wouldn’t I” he expressed.
Ashlee’s journey is a powerful testament to the beauty of adoption and the enduring bond of family. Through the emotional meeting with her biological father and the discovery of her mother’s heartfelt diary, Ashlee gained a deeper understanding of the love and sacrifice that shaped her life.
Adoption gave her the opportunity to be loved and nurtured by another family, yet it also allowed her to reconnect with the family she never knew, filling in the missing pieces of her story. Ashlee’s story is a beautiful reminder that every Life is precious, and every adoption can be a story of love, sacrifice, and reunion.
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