anndiamond
New Member
This is a slightly different take on reincarnation in families. I think my grandmother has come back as my cousin's birth daughter, who was given up for adoption in 1965. The story goes like this:
In 1959 my grandmother, Julia Macdonald, died. My cousin Nancy and I were both children at the time, and at her funeral I remember noticing my cousin wiping her eyes with a handkerchief, and I thought at the time (I was eight) "I never realized they were so close." My grandmother was a pretty tough Presbyterian cookie and most of my memories were of her yelling at me, so although I was sorry she died, I didn't shed tears, but sat there thinking "anyway, she was 89."
At age 16, my cousin Nancy got in "trouble" as they called it at the time, and had a baby in a home for unwed mothers. After the baby was born, they brought her the little girl and asked her to give her a name before they took her away to be given up for adoption. My cousin wrote "Julia" on the birth certificate, and never saw her again.
Twenty-seven years later, my cousin (who has moved to another part of the country) picks up the phone one day and there is a young woman at the other end, who says "My name is Anne MacDonald and I am your birth daughter."
Understandably, my cousin (who has changed her name to Jean, and been married several times by now) is mystified, and they talk. In the course of the conversation, strange details emerge.
After she was given up for adoption, the baby called "Julia" was adopted by a couple named MacDonald (which had been my grandmother's name) who decided to call her "Anne." When Anne was 14 years old, she became very interested in music, got a guitar for her birthday (just like my cousin at the same age), and embarked on a singing career (just like her birth mother, my cousin, at that age). She told her parents that from now on she was calling herself "Julia." They found that very strange, as they had never told her about the name on her birth certificate.
As soon as I heard this, I told my cousin "Our grandmother is back!" My cousin had meanwhile forgotten that our grandmother's name was Julia, and claims she never knew, which I find hard to believe. What strikes me as strange is that my cousin now has developed a relationship with her birth daughter, who looks a lot like my cousin AND our grandmother, and whose "performing name" is exactly the same as my grandmother's.
Not only that -- there's another odd twist to this story. Although my cousin has moved to the West Coast, she grew up in Toronto. Her birth daughter's adoptive family raised her in the same small town my grandmother was born in, and later she moved to go to university in Toronto. I have another cousin in Toronto, and both he and his wife work at the music library of that same university. When my cousin brought her birth daughter over for a visit, the three of them stared at one another and said, "I KNOW YOU!" They had met many times at the library.
This is not quite the same as children remembering their past lives, but I think it's eerie nonetheless. Unfortunately, I have yet to meet Anne Julia MacDonald, to see if she reminds me of my grandmother... but I am really convinced all this is more than coincidence.
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"Missing persons are everywhere."
Ann Diamond's latest novel, DEAD WHITE MALES, is available on Amazon.com
[A]
In 1959 my grandmother, Julia Macdonald, died. My cousin Nancy and I were both children at the time, and at her funeral I remember noticing my cousin wiping her eyes with a handkerchief, and I thought at the time (I was eight) "I never realized they were so close." My grandmother was a pretty tough Presbyterian cookie and most of my memories were of her yelling at me, so although I was sorry she died, I didn't shed tears, but sat there thinking "anyway, she was 89."
At age 16, my cousin Nancy got in "trouble" as they called it at the time, and had a baby in a home for unwed mothers. After the baby was born, they brought her the little girl and asked her to give her a name before they took her away to be given up for adoption. My cousin wrote "Julia" on the birth certificate, and never saw her again.
Twenty-seven years later, my cousin (who has moved to another part of the country) picks up the phone one day and there is a young woman at the other end, who says "My name is Anne MacDonald and I am your birth daughter."
Understandably, my cousin (who has changed her name to Jean, and been married several times by now) is mystified, and they talk. In the course of the conversation, strange details emerge.
After she was given up for adoption, the baby called "Julia" was adopted by a couple named MacDonald (which had been my grandmother's name) who decided to call her "Anne." When Anne was 14 years old, she became very interested in music, got a guitar for her birthday (just like my cousin at the same age), and embarked on a singing career (just like her birth mother, my cousin, at that age). She told her parents that from now on she was calling herself "Julia." They found that very strange, as they had never told her about the name on her birth certificate.
As soon as I heard this, I told my cousin "Our grandmother is back!" My cousin had meanwhile forgotten that our grandmother's name was Julia, and claims she never knew, which I find hard to believe. What strikes me as strange is that my cousin now has developed a relationship with her birth daughter, who looks a lot like my cousin AND our grandmother, and whose "performing name" is exactly the same as my grandmother's.
Not only that -- there's another odd twist to this story. Although my cousin has moved to the West Coast, she grew up in Toronto. Her birth daughter's adoptive family raised her in the same small town my grandmother was born in, and later she moved to go to university in Toronto. I have another cousin in Toronto, and both he and his wife work at the music library of that same university. When my cousin brought her birth daughter over for a visit, the three of them stared at one another and said, "I KNOW YOU!" They had met many times at the library.
This is not quite the same as children remembering their past lives, but I think it's eerie nonetheless. Unfortunately, I have yet to meet Anne Julia MacDonald, to see if she reminds me of my grandmother... but I am really convinced all this is more than coincidence.
------------------
"Missing persons are everywhere."
Ann Diamond's latest novel, DEAD WHITE MALES, is available on Amazon.com
[A]
