Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    He Waited for Me
    He Waited for Me
    He Waited for Me
    Ebook82 pages1 hour

    He Waited for Me

    By Patricia Kamradt

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    Adoptees can have a picture-perfect upbringing with their adoptive parents, and yet still feel the need to find their roots; its a naturalmaybe even primalneed. Adoptive parents, if still alive, should not feel threatened by this desire; it is a testament that they have raised a well-rounded child. In He Waited for Me, Patricia Kamradt encourages all adoptees to seek out their history because it is a part of who they are. They may find more than they had ever hoped to find.

    Many, if not most, adoptees search for their biological mothers first. This is understandable because of the maternal bond. In some cases, this search leads to a dead end for one reason or another. In the beginning, when the author was asked if she wanted to find her biological father, she was reluctant. This was because she was deeply hurt by her mothers decision to not allow contact with her, even though she tried to rationalize her thinking.

    She decided to go ahead with the search for her biological fatherone of the best decisions she feels she has ever made. He Waited for Me tells the story of her search and its results, presenting an inspiring story of hope and joy.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisheriUniverse
    Release dateSep 7, 2010
    ISBN9781450253055
    He Waited for Me
    Author

    Patricia Kamradt

    Patricia Kamradt is an adoptee and was placed with her adoptive parents shortly after birth. She and her brother, Jim, were adopted from Catholic Charities. They grew up together in a small suburb of Chicago. She and her husband, Bob, have three children and four grandchildren, and they reside in Elgin, Illinois.

    Related to He Waited for Me

    Related ebooks

    Biography & Memoir For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Two Men, One Story

      Mar 1, 2024

      Two Men, One Story
      6 min read

    • Article

      Family Man

      Apr 15, 2020

      Family Man
      5 min read

    • Article

      Little House

      Jun 5, 2023

      On Monday nights our mother made popcorn and served it to us in mugs with milk poured over. My younger sister and I carried our mugs into the family room and ate the popcorn with spoons, like cereal. We were five and seven. Until we were allowed to s

      21 min read

    • Article

      The Ultimate Gift

      May 23, 2023

      The Ultimate Gift
      4 min read

    • Article

      FAMILY Secrets

      Mar 28, 2024

      FAMILY Secrets
      6 min read

    • Article

      Permanent Resident

      Apr 27, 2017

      Permanent Resident
      5 min read

    • Article

      Locals

      Jun 11, 2021

      Locals
      26 min read

    • Article

      Beverley Knight

      Aug 28, 2023

      Beverley Knight
      5 min read

    • Article

      ‘We Are Bridges’: Featured Nonfiction from Cassandra Lane

      Apr 20, 2021

      Lane's memoir, which won the 2020 Louise Meriwether First Book Prize, explores the author's ancestral history in order to give her future child a family history. The post ‘We Are Bridges’: Featured Nonfiction from Cassandra Lane appeared first on The

      8 min read

    • Article

      Steven Pinker

      Oct 24, 2022

      Steven Pinker
      5 min read

    • Article

      Where Teens Used to Hang Out

      Dec 12, 2023

      Where Teens Used to Hang Out
      7 min read

    • Article

      Linton Kwesi Johnson

      Apr 10, 2023

      Linton Kwesi Johnson
      5 min read

    • Article

      Thumbs Up...

      May 10, 2022

      Thumbs Up...
      10 min read

    • Article

      Perfect Casting

      Jul 11, 2019

      Perfect Casting
      5 min read

    • Article

      Thumbs Up…

      May 10, 2022

      Thumbs Up…
      10 min read

    • Article

      Thumbs Up…

      May 10, 2022

      Thumbs Up…
      10 min read

    • Article

      Meet Naomi

      Sep 3, 2020

      Meet Naomi
      11 min read

    • Article

      How To Hang A Mezuzah

      Sep 1, 2020

      How To Hang A Mezuzah
      24 min read

    • Article

      Your Page

      Aug 17, 2022

      Little did I know that a Country Style front cover from September 2013 would lay the foundation for one of the last and most cherished memories I would have of my mother. After a nine-year stint in Venice Beach, Los Angeles, we moved back to country

      5 min read

    • Article

      My Three Grandfathers

      Jun 16, 2019

      My Three Grandfathers
      9 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for He Waited for Me

    0 ratings

    0 ratings0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

      Book preview

      He Waited for Me - Patricia Kamradt

      Contents

      Acknowledgments

      Introduction

      1. Bringing Baby Home

      2. Bits and Pieces

      3. Confidential Intermediary

      4. Back Burner

      5. Dear Catherine Letter

      6. Wounded

      7. Seek and Ye Shall Find

      8. Do You Know Who This Is?

      9. Off to Delaware

      10. Not Ready for Good-byes

      Conclusion

      References

      ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

      SKU-000183174_TEXT-3.jpg

      Thanks to God for answering my prayers.

      My adoptive parents, Margaretrose and Clifford, for taking me into their hearts.

      My husband Bob and children, Robin, Joseph, and Chrystal, for their love.

      My grandchildren, Eryka, Alyssia, Joshuel, and Nayelis, for being the lights of my life.

      My brother James for his love and support throughout my life.

      Introduction

      SKU-000183174_TEXT-3.jpg

      So many years have come and passed;

      God has chosen to unite us at last.

      Treasure time we have together now;

      Never take for granted the gift he has given, or ever doubt his infinite wisdom.

      My past will always remain in my heart, but a new door has opened for us as father and daughter with a new beginning, a brand new start.

      Love,

      Pat

      I read my poem to my biological father, standing within an arm’s reach of him, in his home in Delaware. My father would pass away a month later, after my meeting him for the first time. Alanis Morissette’s song Ironic kept playing in my head: And isn’t it ironic … don’t you think? There must have been some divine intervention at play; after all, he did wait for me. I was close to fifty years old and had started my search for him only eight months prior to our meeting.

      I hope this book will help my family understand the impact that meeting my biological father had on my life. People who are not adopted may not fully comprehend the intrinsic need to know one’s history and heritage. You can love and be loved deeply by your adoptive parents and still feel this need.

      Pieces of the puzzle were missing in my life, as they are with many other adoptees out there. I hope this will give some of them the courage to search and get answers, as I have. My search has been a long journey from start to finish, but well worth it.

      I know this has been a life-changing experience for me. I hope it will be as positive an outcome for others who decide to search. There are no guarantees in life, but sometimes we need to take that leap of faith.

      Chapter 1

      SKU-000183174_TEXT-3.jpg

      Bringing Baby Home

      As a young child, I was told I had been adopted through Catholic Charities, located in Chicago, Illinois. I learned from my adoptive parents that my given birth name had been Catherine, and that I had been named after my grandmother and great-grandmother, who were born in Ireland. Catholic Charities, I would come to find out later, tried to match adoptees with adoptive parents of similar heritage and religion. My adoptive mother’s name was Margaretrose and my father’s name was Clifford. They were both from the Chicago area and in their early forties at the time of my adoption. They had desperately wanted to have children of their own but for medical reasons could not. The process of adoption was a long and difficult journey for them, but they brought home their first child, my brother James, in 1955, and I would soon follow, three years later in 1958.

      Both Jim and I were only a few weeks old when we were adopted. Even though we were not biological siblings, we have always been close and consider ourselves to be brother and sister still to this day. We share a very close bond. My parents always told us that because we were adopted, we were special—we were chosen.

      I didn’t give being adopted much thought in my younger years; it just seemed normal. I was too busy being a kid. I can’t remember my friends ever questioning it either. I guess they just accepted it too.

      We were raised in a small Midwestern town in a suburb of Chicago. It was a friendly town where everyone knew each other’s names. Not exactly Mayberry but close to it. It was a family-oriented, mostly middle-class town, and we enjoyed a simple kind of life there. Jim and I were typical siblings, fighting like cats and dogs at times but loyal to one another, sticking up for each other whenever it was needed. When we were younger, we had the same childhood friends and all hung out with one another. Our neighbors two doors down were a typical Catholic family with three boys and three girls, all within two years of age of each other. You can imagine the trouble we got into at times hanging around together; it was nothing earth-shattering, but we were still called hooligans by our parents. I have many good memories during this time in my life. The streets in front of our house were the perfect set-up because not much traffic would go by, and we could play sports there, such as baseball and football, with the neighborhood kids. We stayed outside all day in the summer, only coming in to eat dinner and then going right back out. But we always needed to be back in by the time the street lights came on, no excuses.

      No excuses went for church too. My parents were devout Catholics who brought my brother Jim and me up in the church. We also went to Catholic grade schools in our younger years. The nuns put the fear of God into us kids by telling us we would certainly burn in the fires of hell if we strayed from the Catholic teachings in any way. I remember one time in particular when I really upset one of the nuns; her face got so red I thought her head was going to pop right off her neck, habit and all. We did respect the nuns—probably because we all were so afraid of them.

      As I mentioned, Catholic Charities tried to match up adoptees with families of a similar heritage. I had been no exception. My mother Margaretrose’s family was from County Clare, Ireland. Her brother Jack had his own spot on a local radio station called The Irish Hour. Every Sunday, without fail, we had the radio tuned in to hear him

      Enjoying the preview?
      Page 1 of 1