I was born in Portugal in a little town named Ovar where I was raised until I was nine. I grew up very poor and lived in a small three-room house with my parents, younger sisters, and grandma. In 1967, my maternal grandfather made arrangements for us to come to the United States to have a better life. We came at the end of 1969, went to school, and by the age of twelve, I was helping out my parents by washing dishes in a restaurant. By 1976, at the age of sixteen, I had met the love of my life who would later be my husband?his name was Rocky.
Being raised in a conservative family, I was not permitted to date at sixteen. It was rough waters when I told my dad that not only did I have a boyfriend, but that my boyfriend wanted to meet him. My dad decided to give Rocky a chance, but we were only allowed to see one another with a chaperone. By 1979, we were married. Over the next twelve years, we traveled and had a wonderful life, but we knew that something was missing. In 1990, my husband and I found a beautiful new colonial home in Fishkill, New York, where we knew we wanted to raise our children. Unfortunately, years went by and we were not able to conceive. The attorney that did the closing on our house had mentioned adoption?she had adopted her oldest son through an agency and was very happy with them. By the time we met her, her son was already well on the way to becoming an attorney himself. She gave us the information so we could get in touch with the adoption lawyer she...