The Mother I’d Never Met

Finding my birth mother was easier than I thought. The real work happened next.

Illustration: Luis Mendo

It is a rainy November day in Hannibal, Missouri. Storm clouds hover darkly over the small river city, threatening to spit snow. I sit hunched inside a tiny, soundproofed room at the Hannibal Public Library, oblivious to the inclement weather brewing outside. In front of me, on a large…