Taking a decade to write her story, one woman sought to uncover her heritage, and her life was changed forever.
Diane Wheaton, the author of “Finding Loretta: An Adopted Daughter’s Search to Define Family” tells her story about discovering a secret from her adoptive parents, furthering her complicated feelings toward them, meeting her biological family for the first time and facing an important decision that brings a new level of healing for her.
Beginning her journey, Wheaton said she knew nothing about who she is and was determined to find out who her biological family was.
“I wrote it initially for the adoptee community within the adoption triad. Adoption triad includes adoptees, birth parents and adoptive parents. And I wanted to give my story [on] how an adoptee feels and growing up in a close adoption,” Wheaton said.
While trying to find who she was through the cathartic experience of writing the book, Wheaton said that adoptees grow up not knowing anything about themselves, like their ethnicity, where people are born, who they are born from, how it feels and the struggles that adoptees have in a closed adoption.
Friends and family gathered last week at the Rose and Crown, an England-themed restaurant in Newhall, to show support and pride for Wheaton in completing her decade-long journey of writing the book.
Wheaton’s daughter, Heather Day, joined the festivities and had a smile from ear-to-ear looking at her mother.
“She’s been through a lot, and I think finding out who she was through her story, it was really impactful and also based on my family knowing where I came from as well as her granddaughter,” Day said.
Adding to the sentiment, Wheaton’s close friend, Lynne Duke, could not have been prouder.
Duke recalled being there for Wheaton and starting her adventure to find her natural family.
“I’ve been with her every step of the way and today marks an important event and I wasn’t going to miss it,” Duke said with a big smile.
More information on Wheaton’s book can be found at www.dianewheaton.com.
