MRS. COLORADO AMERICA: AN AMAZING JOURNEY

I was born in Wahiawa, Hawaii, and was immediately put up for adoption.  I was adopted in San Diego, California, but relinquished at 18 months. I then lived in foster homes until I was 3 ½, when I was blessed to have been adopted by two very loving parents.  Shortly thereafter, we moved to Okinawa, Japan, for a time and then settled in Midvale, Utah, where I spent the majority of my childhood.

I was an only child with a tomboy attitude and a strong sense of adventure.  I would spend hours each day in the summer exploring fields and abandoned buildings, spying on neighborhood kids, climbing trees, and building huts with my trusty dog, Chibby (who I called my “brother”) by my side.  But, oh, how I longed for a real brother!

When I was about nine years old, I realized that I didn’t resemble my parents AT ALL.  I’m of Portuguese and Asian descent and I was fast approaching 6 feet, yet my parents were tiny people at 4’11” and 5’5”!  It was then my parents told me about my adoption.  This instilled within me an unquenchable need to find answers to where I came from and if I really could have a brother!

After a 26-year search, I found all my biological siblings and family, and I actually found out I not only have one brother, but four! Finding the answers to where I came from filled me with an inexplicable joy and gratitude. Of the family I found, most had lived a very hard, very different life from me.  Seeing how I was spared such hardship and blessed to have been raised by two wonderful parents, I came to realize that it was because I have a purpose, and that purpose is to tell my story…