As unlikely as it may seem to find that person you’ve been searching for so many years, sometimes the universe conspires in our favor, adding bits of surprising coincidence to our everyday lives.
The best example of this is the story of Benjamin Hulleberg and his mother Holly Shearer, with whom he was reunited after 20 years of giving him up for adoption, only to discover that they have more in common than just shared genes. This is his story.
According to information from Fox News, c.hen Holly became pregnant at age 15, she decided it was best to give her baby up for adoption to Brian and Angela Hulleberg, a couple struggling with infertility.
For three years, Holly kept in touch with the Hullebergs, who sent her letters and photos of little Benjamin. However, the communication ceased and the adoption agency closed its doors in 2014, so the young mother’s curiosity grew greater with the passage of time.
For his part, from a very young age, Benjamin was aware that he had been adopted by his parents, as they made sure that he was aware of his true origin. However, he grew curious to know more about his biological mother, whom he only knew by her first name, Holly.
For years, Benjamin sent letters to adoption agencies in Utah, reviewed DNA evidence and adoption records, but his relentless search never came to fruition. Although the boy had not been able to find Holly, what he did not know was that she was looking for him too, until one day, a simple Internet search was enough to find his official Facebook account:
[Él] I was 18 years old when I found him, but I was very hesitant. She had so many things in her life. The last thing I wanted to do was affect her life, so I just watched from a distance.
Last year, in a touching Facebook post, the boy spoke of his “deep desire” to meet his real mother, “simply for the opportunity to thank her for her selfless decision” to put him up for adoption.
Then, finally, Holly worked up the courage to approach her son, and in November 2021, on Benjamin’s 20th birthday, she sent him a message via Facebook to congratulate him:
– Holly: Happy birthday. I hope it was a wonderful day.
Benjamin: Hello. I know you?
Holly: You don’t know me. In fact, it is rare for a stranger to send you a message. 20 years ago, I made the hardest decision of my life, I gave my beautiful baby up for adoption to a beautiful family. I have no intention of turning your life upside down. I have thought of you every day and finally got the courage to send you a message to wish you a happy birthday.
After seeing his dream come true and after waiting so long, Benjamin wasn’t about to waste any more time, so he asked Holly to meet him for dinner.
He asked me to meet him right away, which surprised me a bit. He didn’t expect that, but he wanted us to see each other right away. So we planned a dinner the next day to meet at a restaurant with our two families.
When the two families met in an emotional reunion, Holly and Benjamin discovered that they hadn’t been too far apart after all these years, realizing that they had both been working at St. Mark’s Hospital in Salt Lake City, Utah, for the past two years. Holly is a physician assistant and Benjamin volunteers in the intensive care unit.
Every morning, he walked through the pavilion to go to work. So I went through the intensive care unit every day. We parked in the same spot, we could have been on the same floor, having no idea we were so close.
– Holly Shearer
Since being reunited with Holly and her family, Benjamin also has a great relationship with his two younger half-siblings. Since then, mother and son meet at work at least once a week.
To be able to sit down with my birth mother and just have coffee and talk before I start my shift? It has been amazing.