The other weekend I was visiting my parents and I was able to sit down with my mother and talk about the book. We talked about the research that went into it and how she spent time with my birth family trying to piece together the story.

If you can’t see the video above click here.

The Idea For the Book

Originally it was going to be a project for both my mother and father, but they quickly realized that someone had to take full responsibility. In 2002 my mother was finishing up another book she was working on and she decided that it was a great opportunity to start.

The Research

In 2004 she got serious about starting the book and began by taking Spanish classes. She knew she would have to have difficult conversations with my family and it would be best to do those in Spanish. My mother and brother both took classes in Costa Rica to help improve her Spanish language skills.

In late 2005 she was at a point where her Spanish was good enough to start interviewing people. She spent a couple of weeks living with members of my birth mother and birth father’s families. During this time there was a lot of opportunity for conversation and to dig a little deeper. They started to remember a lot of details that we did not know before, and helped piece together the story. They also helped her dig up old newspapers which provided a context for our story.

We talked about the repression of memory and how we learned a lot of new information very quickly. My mother talks about how her own records reminded her about pieces of the story she had forgotten.

She really wanted people to be a part of the journey we experienced. To go from not knowing, to putting the pieces back together.

We Want to Hear From You!

My mother and I had been talking about the power of social networks and how it relates to the book. I thought it would be neat if people could come back to the Facebook group and leave their thoughts about her work. She would love to hear what people think about it and so would I. You can also leave a comment on this post. Hope to hear from you!