Adoptee Story: James Serrano

He asked me what I had been up too, and I told him I was looking for my birthparents. He proceeded to ask me if I had any information and I told him all the information I knew. He then told me that the information about my birth mother sounded like a girl he knew named Marie who he had dated in the early 60’s. I began to tell him about my birth family which described him to a tee. I called my wife and told her what had happened and if she could read me the information about my birth father. I went back to the job site and asked Carlos how far he went in school and he stated that he only went up to the 10^th grade. We then just looked at each other and thought maybe we were father and son. I asked him if he knew how to a hold of Marie and he said he would try to fine her but it had been 38 years since he has seen her. Two weeks later I was talking to a fellow coworker and he told me he used to date Carlos’ daughter and that he would call her so we would meet. Meanwhile Carlos and I decided to take a blood test. About 9 weeks later I got the results in the mail saying that we were not father and son, which was one of the worst days in my life. When I told him about it we were both devastated. Six months passed and my wife was talking to a neighbor and she told her that her husband was adopted. So my wife shared with her that I was adopted also. The neighbor told my wife that her husband went to adoptive identity discovery meeting and that’s how he found his birth parents. So I decided to go to the Santa Clara meeting because I was adopted in San Jose. While at the meeting I met a gentleman who helped me with my search. I gave him all my information and he told me he would have a name for me but the time I got home. He called me that night and gave me my birth mothers maiden name. Meanwhile my adopted mother found out she had breast cancer so the guilt started to dig deep into my heat. I thought how I could keep going on with the search. So I decided to keep looking. 6 months past and we narrowed my birthmother’s maiden name to three woman and three addresses. One of them was in San Jose where I worked, so one day I was delivering concrete and saw he address so I pulled over and knocked at the door and asked if they ordered concrete. The person that answered the door was my brother but I didn’t know at the time. Three weeks passed and the gentleman helping me called and told me he found my birthmother and the address I stopped at three weeks ago was where she lived. I got her phone number and called her that night. She answered the phone and I asked her if any of her son’s were home and she said no and asked me who I was and I told her my name was Jim Serrano and she didn’t recognize my name. I asked her if January 22, 1962 mean anything to her, and there was a dead silence. She then proceeded to ask why I was saying these things and asked who it was and I told her this is who you think this is, so she told me she couldn’t talk and to call her tomorrow morning. I hung up and told my wife what happened and was so anxious, confused, and numb. My wife didn’t want me to drive home. So later that night my wife and I were talking and the phone rang and it was my birthmother Nolberta and she asked me if we would meet the next day at a Valley Medicare in San Jose because she had an appointment for her kids that morning. I agreed to meet her the next morning. So we meet in the parking lot of Valley Medical. When we saw each other we locked eyed and she hugged me and cried and told me she was sorry, although I had no emotions. She asked me to go along to the appointments she had for her kids. After the appointments we talked and she told me that her husband and kids didn’t know anything about me. She told me that God gave her a second chance with me so she was going to tell her husband and kids about me. She said that she was sacred that her husband was going to kick me out of the house. Later on that night Nolberta called me and said that her husband and kids were excited to meet me. A week later I met her husband and my two brothers. I didn’t get to meet my sister because she loves in Montana at the time. One thing I noticed was a lot of young children living in her home. Later that night we spoke on the phone and I asked her who all those children were. She stated that they all were her foster children and that they were foster parents for at least 25 years. She said she was paying God back for what she did 38 years ago by giving me up for adoption. At the same time I didn’t tell my adoptive parents about the meetings. I asked Nolberta of Carlos Bryant was my father and she told me no that my father’s name is Raul Coca. She had not seen him in 39 years. But she knew where his brother worked. So I went to where Raul’s brother worked and that was Hank Coca Furniture in San Jose. A week later I was working so I pulled up in front of the store and I asked for Hank Coca but he was not there so I spoke to Hank Coca Jr. and asked how I could get a hold of Raul Coca.