Mother’s Day has taken on a whole new meaning for Jill O’Donnell.
She gave up a son she named Robert for adoption in 1962.
“I was 22 (years-old) and I decided I did not want to have this baby to raise because I felt we could not afford to do so,” O’Donnell said.
“I couldn’t give him what somebody else could.”
O’Donnell was two months pregnant when she pursued private adoption.
“I knew the couple was at least 10 years older than me and I knew they were established in the community,” she said.
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But it wasn’t an easy decision and she spent years thinking about the son she gave up.
O’Donnell even contacted the adoption registry many times throughout years, in hopes she would reconnect with her son.
“I would wonder where he was, what happened to him probably two or three times a week,” O’Donnell said.
“Every time you see a child it would pop into your head.”
In 2008, legislation around adoption changed in Ontario.
The legislation would allow parents and adopted adults to access to adoption records unless a no-contact notice is applied.
And in December 2009, O’Donnell received a letter from the attorney general’s office with two birth certificates enclosed, one for Robert and another for Andrew Pringle.
Robert’s name was changed to Andrew Pringle by his adoptive parents five days after he was born.
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She entered the named into an online search engine and found out Pringle was a lawyer working in the Hamilton neighbourhood of Ancaster.
“I’m ecstatic. I’m laughing and crying,” she said. Then she called him.
Pringle, now 53, said as time passed, he too had a curiosity grow inside him.
“My adoptive mother died… and that’s when I first started to feel some curiosity,” he said.
The pair decided to meet for dinner at a Toronto restaurant a short time after they reconnected.
“It was like looking at myself, like looking in the mirror. Here was someone who looked just like me,” O’Donnell said.
While the pair were excited to reconnect, they both agreed that adoption was the best decision, and neither of them has regrets.
“He has had a wonderful life… He had parents who loved and cared for him. He has a brother and sister and he’s just had a great life,” O’Donnell said.
Despite their unconventional relation, Pringle came bearing a small gift for O’Donnell ahead of Mother’s Day.
“It’s not the typical mother-son relationship but it’s in a special category all in itself.”
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