All language subtitles for Closure.2013.1080p.WEBRip.x265-RARBG2_English

All right, it's 10:03.
Getting ready to call.

My heart is pounding.

It feels like I'm starting
the state race

of the 200-meter dash.

[Sighs]

Ok, I'm going.

I'm going.

Any last words of advice?

Ok, good, good,
good words.

Ok.

I'll be quiet now.

Ok, I'm good.

[phone ringing]

Shoot.

WOMAN: Hello?

WOMAN: ♪ I don't say
with my heart, I don't give in ♪

♪ to anybody
who comes alongside me ♪

♪ And says, "Baby, I got you" ♪

♪ The lesson that I've learned ♪

♪ Is too many people ♪

♪ know just what to tell you ♪

♪ But they don't know how
to follow through ♪

♪ So I'm searching, I am
searching, I am longing,
I am longing ♪

♪ That I don't have to
walk this road alone ♪

♪ All it takes is
one feeling person to say ♪

♪ I will be,
I will be, I will be ♪

♪ I will be your witness ♪

♪ Oh, ho,
I will be your witness ♪

♪ So cold ♪

♪ I will be your witness ♪

♪ Oh ho ho ♪

♪ I will be your witness ♪

♪ Yeah, I will be your witness ♪

WOMAN: This is a little
treasure box that I have

full of different things
that I've collected in my life.

And one of them
is this little book

called "The Puppy
That Found a Home."

My mom read this to me
a zillion times

when I was about 5 or 6,

and about a little lost puppy
who tried to find a home,

and every place he went,
the people would say,

"Go away, little stray,
go away, I say."

I just love this book,
and I'm not sure why
'cause I really--

dogs are not my favorite.

But I really love this book
about him finding a home.

And I don't know, maybe it
planted a seed in my life.

So David and I were married
and at Western Washington
University

here in Bellingham.

Uh, let's see, 1973.

We were pregnant
with our first baby

who we named Elena.

And it was--
It was very exciting,

exciting to be pregnant

and exciting to see what
that new life was gonna be like.

MAN: We had decided, I think
even at the time Elena was born,

that we were
to have one homemade

and that we wanted
a large family.

But there were kids
that needed homes.

I had some friends
who had adopted,

and that kind of gave me
the first glimpse

of something that
I might like to do some day.

Once Elena was born,
I had a vasectomy,

and we started, I think
within a couple of years,

actually with an international
adoption agency first.

Took about 5 years,
going through a couple
of different agencies

as we moved and ended
with the state of Washington

as our primary agency
for adoption.

Elena was 7, about 7 years old,
and we decided to adopt,

and we adopted Shawna in 1982.

She was
a special needs adoption.

She was 1 pound, 14 ounces
when she was born,

MAN: We received a call

about this little
1-year-old girl,

and the next day, Teresa,

Elena and I were on a ferry
down to Bramerton,

and we got her, I think,
we kind of joked

about, "Count her toes.

Make sure she had 5 toes
on each foot."

And she had those. She had
a lot of other things, too.

Anyway, it was
a great experience,

and we thought,
"Wow, this is really something."

And we just kept wanting more.

Two years later, we got the itch
to adopt again.

This time it was Steven,
who was about 5 years old.

He was...had numerous
foster home placements,

and...we could hardly wait
to get him to our house

and have him part of our family.

Youa, of course,

was the one who was
never formally adopted.

Had a family.

But we count her, she--
is a Laotian refugee

that came to live with us,

and we count her
as part of our family.

Then we weren't done.

It seemed like about
every two years

we kind of got the itch
to adopt again,

so then Kyle was next,

and we met him
at an adoption party

down in Seattle where they had
waiting children

and families
who wanted to adopt.

And he had
fetal alcohol syndrome.

Keniche and Shanika
joined our family from Kentucky

as a sibling group.

Then we saw Angela in a book.

WOMAN: Angela had special needs,

but they weren't exactly sure
what they were gonna be

at that time.

MAN: When Angela was born,

the doctors noticed some
tightness in her extremities.

They diagnosed her
with spastic quadriplegia,

and they said that
she'd never walk.

She was immediately placed
in a foster home in Chattanooga

with a very young, loving couple

who gave her physical therapy
every day for hours

just so that they could
change her diaper

because her limbs were so tight.

DAVID: Angela was born in '85,

and that would have been in '86
she was just 1,

and we made the call
and flew back

and we actually brought her home
on that trip.

And she just...wow.

♪

WOMAN: Never talked much about

the mixed-race
issues of adoption.

Well, I don't know why.

It just didn't seem to matter.

We just looked at each child
as a person

and what their needs were

and thought about if we could
help with any of those needs,

I think.

DAVID: And Bellingham
was not diverse at that time,

ethnically diverse.

It simply wasn't.

And I'd feel for Elena
sometimes growing up.

Elena was 7 when we started
expanding our family.

She was an only child
for 7 years,

and then all of a sudden
over a several-year period,

it looked like the circus
had come to town.

Fun walking into church
sometimes.

I think there was kind of a,
"Well, who have they added now?"

WOMAN: At the grocery store,
strangers would say,

"Where is this kid from?"

And I'd say,
"Well, this kid is my kid."

Ha ha!

"Oh, well, where are they from?"

And I'd say, "Bellingham."

You could tell they wanted
to say, "Are they from Africa?"

MAN: 8.

4 stayed in Bellingham,
and we came over.

Oh, you know, you walk
down the street

and it's like a magnet.

Ha ha!
I'll be darned.

I don't know.

How do you
get rid of them

is the better question.

MAN: I first met Angela
sometime around 2007

when we were both attending
Seattle Pacific University.

And she was a psychology major,

and I needed to take
an introductory psych class,

and I remember we worked
on an assignment together

and just really got along
and clicked,

and we started hanging out
outside of class,

and not too long after
started dating.

And we realized
with both loved basketball,

so we were playing basketball
together all the time,

and I remember she told me later
that she remembered the moment

she knew she was
really attracted to me

was when we first played
one on one.

And we were just playing
real intense,

and I swatted one of her shots
really bad.

And I felt horrible about it,
but she loved it

just because
I didn't take it easy on her

because she was a girl.

And that was sort of how our
relationship started building
from there.

Fast forward two years later
in 2009,

and that's when I asked Angela
to marry me.

And at that point,
it seemed like life
couldn't get any better.

I remember, though, noticing
this growing change in Angela,

and it was this desire for her
to find her birth mother.

And I sort of got it,
I understood it,

knowing that she was raised
by white parents

in a very white town.

I knew that there had to
have been this innate desire

for her to connect
with her roots

and see people
that look like her

and to know
where she got her traits,

but I think I underestimated
how strong that desire was.

You know, I think maybe
around the age of 12 or so,

11, 12, when I started hearing
some rumblings

of Angela being interested
in finding her birth mom.

I think there was always fear
on my mom's part

of her finding this mother
that replaced my mom.

When they were young, I did
worry about that a little bit

because I wasn't sure
I could handle that as a mom

because they were my kids
and I was their mom.

I had so much admiration
for her parents

and what they did,
adopting all those children.

You know,
I would say to Angela,

"You know,
you had a great family.

"You had two parents
that loved you.

Not a lot of kids can say that."

And you know, we would get in
arguments about it sometimes,

and Angela would just say,

"You know, I know
my parents love me,

but that's not
what this is about."

At one point I thought,
you know, why...

why do you need to find
your birth parents?

And part of it, too,
was probably protection

for our parents

'cause I felt like it was
a little bit insulting to them

'cause it was like,
aren't they enough?

They've done everything.

But I totally--I mean, I get it
as much as I can get it.

I remember one comment
Angela made

about, you know,
how people would always say,

"Oh, you look
just like your dad."

And she had to go through life
not ever hearing that,

and it just makes you
understand, you know,

a small part
of what goes into that

or where that need comes from.

MAN: I think I finally
got to a point

to where I understood better
where she was coming from,

and I understood how I could be
supportive of her

in searching
for her birth family.

MOTHER:
You know, as she got older,

it really felt deeply
like I was her mom,

and I think as she got
in her 20s

I realized that
it wasn't gonna change

my status of being mom

if she found her birth mother,

and I became as curious
as her,

like, who was her birth mother
and what's her story?

MAN:
Her name was Deborah,

and everything
we've known about her

comes from this 3-page document

that was first given
to David and Teresa.

Deborah's last name
was whited out

as this was a closed adoption.

Deborah herself had 5 siblings,
3 sisters, and twin brothers.

She was 32 years old
at the time Angela was born,

and she already had 4 children
prior to Angela.

There were two boys,
Timothy and James,

and one daughter, Carolyn,
were in her possession.

The fourth child was
an unnamed daughter

born over a year before Angela
and also placed for adoption.

We knew from this document

that Deborah had kept
her pregnancy with Angela

and this other daughter
a secret from her entire family,

including her own children,

and it's hard to imagine
how she could do that,

but the document
went on to explain

that Deborah's 3 children

would live with
either their grandparents

or an aunt or an uncle
for long periods of time

just because Deborah was unable
to provide financially for them.

It definitely adds
an interesting dynamic

when you consider that Angela
has this whole family
out there--

aunts, uncles, sibling--

that never knew
she was even born.

ANGELA: "I think of all of you
as heroes.

"You are heroes because
you've provided a life

"and you've shown amazing
strength and character

"in your choice
for creating an adoption plan,

"and for this I,
as an adoptee,

am forever grateful
and thankful you."

That's nice.

Mom and I spoke,
and it just got so cool.

We spoke,
and then we were done,

and I was walking back
to the chair.

And nobody was clapping
or anything.

It was just quiet.

It was kind of awkward,

like, "Oh, do they
not feel anything?"

Or did it not--

but then the questions
started,

and people just
started asking, like,

"So..."

I can't even remember
the questions,

but they pinged off

into like these
heart-getting
conversations

mainly between birth mom
to birth mom.

The one that just
hit me so hard

because she just had
no feeling,

like she had something
growing inside of her

and she would hear
all these pregnant women

saying like,
"Oh, my gosh.

I just feel
so connected,"

and just the way
she was thinking, like--

or when she was talking,
I was like,

I hear Deborah in her.

Just this
didn't want to parent,

didn't--

Just wanted to do
what she had to do

and then gone...And then be done.

with her life kind of.

MAN:
We had so much information

about Deborah and her family,

but there was
no identifying information,

so at one point
I said to Angela,

you know,
"Let's shift the focus

and start looking for
your birth father more."

I mean, we had his first name:
Oterious,

which is a very unique name,

and so I thought, you know,
let's start looking for him

and maybe we can find him,

and if we do, that brings us
one step closer to Deborah.

So we figure that his last name

couldn't have been longer
than 4 letters long,

so when we searched,
we were searching for
those short last names.

Our first search came up with
about a dozen men in the U.S.
name Oterious,

but only one was somehow linked
to the state of Tennessee.

The last name was Bell,

which fit the criteria
of what we were looking for.

So we kept searching.

Oterious Bell,
Chattanooga, Tennessee.

Nothing too obvious
came up at first,

but we found this blog post
by a Chattanooga radio DJ,

and it was about
a guy named Sandy Bell.

And so we started reading it,

and it was just talking about
this guy Sandy

who was sort of a well-known
and very well-loved vagrant

in the the town of Chattanooga,

and he had just been
diagnosed with cancer

and he needed financial help
to pay for treatments,

and I remember just thinking
that this sounded kind of weird,

kind of sketchy,
but kept reading

and near the very bottom we saw
his real name is Oterious Bell.

So we thought, hmm, this guy
Oterious goes by the name Sandy.

Let's start searching
for Sandy Bell.

And once we did that,
that's when everything changed.

Angela and I stayed up all night

just reading every single
comment and story

about this guy,

And the more searches
that we did,

the more stuff we found.

WOMAN, ON VIDEO:
Beautiful day.

NEWSCASTER ON VIDEO:
Meet Oterious "Sandy" Bell,

the flower man.

For more than a decade,

Sandy has spread
his own form of sunshine

through downtown Chattanooga.

MAN: Just so nice.

NEWSCASTER: The flower man
is a fixture

in downtown clubs
and restaurants,

passing out petal treats
to the ladies

and making everyone smile.

They say
I'm making their day

when actually I think
it was totally
vice versa.

NEWSCASTER: But now Sandy
is facing a battle.

Last December he found out
he has cancer.

4 surgeries and several rounds
of chemotherapy later,

a group of people
Sandy has touched

want to help him in return.

It's unbelievable.
I mean, I can't see it.

I'm just grateful
and appreciative.

TERESA: Angela and I
never thought

that she would probably find
her birth father

because she just had
his first name,

and she called me up one night.

She told me that she thought
she found him.

And this person looks
just like her.

Ha ha!

And--and I thought, mmm.

I was trying really hard
to be supportive,

but I just thought,
there's no way.

Like, she had kind of
told me this story,

and I just thought...

Well, maybe.

DAVID: We've
been there before.

We've been there before,
yeah.

We've been there before.

Let's take a look.

She emailed the picture,

and it was like...

Oh, my goodness.

You--You do look like him.

Both of us
just about turned green.

I mean, we were just like...
that's him.

That's him.

And so then it was like,
"Huh. Where do we go from here?"

You know?

[Vocalizing]

♪ I have never been to church ♪

♪ Read a bible in my life ♪

♪ But I have seen the future ♪

♪ in the glowing lights
of the midnight sky ♪

♪ So my friends and I set out
to find the place ♪

♪ where the future begins ♪

MAN: I don't know why
they call him a...

ANGELA: Wonder if
they have, like...

where we got
to check in.

You'll find out.
Good luck. Have fun.

Thanks!

All right,
let's get out.

TERESA:
I'll just set up.

Yeah.
Yeah.

MAN: At this point,
I'm feeling a little nervous

because this could go
horribly wrong

or it could be unbelievable.

You know, we had spent
the last 4 weeks

learning everything
about this guy,

Sandy the flower man,

from his Facebook page
and all the--

all the stories that different
people had posted about him.

But here we are just showing up
at his place,

and he doesn't even know
we exist yet.

And we're about to come
and drop a bomb on him,

hoping that it's well received.

But I just kept thinking about

all the things that could
go wrong with this situation.

[Laughter]

Yeah, that was interesting
'cause we felt like we were...

right there,

and we were about
to find this guy,

and everybody's real excited,

and then it just
wasn't happening,

and so we're sort of wondering
what to do next.

So then everybody was talking,

and I was just sitting there
by myself

and saw this guy come out
of the building,

and the next thing you know,
he's getting on his bike,

and it's got all these flags,

and I'm like, "Wait a minute,
that's Sandy right there.

Gosh, I think I just didn't even
know what was happening

at that point.

So I think instinctively I jus
started walking towards him,

like this is it,
do or die kind of thing.

Just you do...be confident,
walk up to him,

act like I know
what's going on.

So I walked up to him

and I think I just told him,

"My name is Angela, and I think
you might be my birth dad.

Your name is on
some of my original documents."

He just stared at me.

I don't know exactly
what he heard me say,

but it felt like he was
just intensely staring
and looking at me,

and then I think we both
just couldn't believe

how much alike we looked.

He had told me
that he's always wanted kids,

and he thought
he could never have any,

and his--his mother had told me

that they thought
he was sterile,

and so I think
I realized quickly

that this is a big deal for him,

and I think the whole time
I was just thinking

this is a big deal for me.

Then he took his glasses off,

and then he said again, like,

"You've got a lot of me in you.

I'm looking in a mirror."

Aw!

It was--
It was so--

It was so...

Ah!

So he invited us all back
to his mom's apartment.

He started naming off names,
like, of all--

I think he has 7 siblings.

So he's naming all of his
siblings who are gonna be there,

and so in my mind it was like,
"Wow!

"Those are aunts and uncles
I'm gonna be meeting,

"and maybe they all have kids

and cousins I'm gonna
be meeting,"

so it went from like one person,
a very important person,

birth dad, to all of a sudden
his whole side of the family.

[vocalizing]

♪ Been looking
through time continuous ♪

♪ Trying to find my way ♪

♪ Of the many only this one
has led me to today ♪

♪ 'Cause dreams
through the atmosphere ♪

♪ All the darks and lights ♪

♪ In you I'm found ♪

♪ In you I'm me ♪

[Vocalizing]

ANGELA:
Deborah, yes.

WOMAN: No.

MAN: Is she still--

MAN: No.

There's a street bus.

[Indistinct chatter]

[Laughter]

I ain't from around here.
Ha ha!

We messin' with
you, Granddad.

ANGELA:
Do you remember any
adoption agencies

talking to you ever?

[Laughter]

So, baby, you made
my brother's day...

make everybody's day.

And Sandy and his brother, Jay,
knew where Deborah lived.

And so said, you know,
he said,

"Well, you want to go drive by?"

And so we thought...

Ok...we'll just drive by
and just see where she lives.

Maybe she'd be out front.

Angela thought maybe she could
just get a glimpse of her.

So all of a sudden
he pulls over.

WOMAN:
Why did you pull up?

TERESA:
Sandy opens the car door

and runs across the street

and knocks on Deborah's door.

And we're...feeling like...

we're not sure
if this is a safe area or not.

It doesn't feel real safe.

Angela right away said,

"Deborah, I think you might be
my birth mother."

MAN: I was recording with
just a little tiny camera,

and as I got closer to everyone,
I just turned it off

out of respect to Deborah
and just the situation

and not really knowing
how she would react

if she saw me
recording everything.

So Angela said her thing,

and I could just hear
Deborah say,

"You know, I'm not the person
you're looking for. Sorry."

And we all knew, but we just
didn't want to push it,

so we left.

ELENA: It's just really sad.

I just felt so bad for her.

When we got back to our hotel,
and she watched the video

over and over and over,

trying to figure out
what in this woman was her.

And it was almost like she...

she didn't want it to be her.

I mean, I don't know.

MAN: I remember noticing

just how visibly shaken
Angela looked.

And it was...

it was really hard for me
to see her like that.

It was hard for me
just as her husband

and as her protector
just to know what I could do

to help her in that situation
to help make things better.

I was thankful, though,
that Jay and Sandy were there.

They really helped lighten
the mood with their humor.

...you looking
like you.

Ok.

No. I said I want you
to meet somebody.

MAN: That took
a lot of courage

for you to
go over there.

[Laughter]

I'm just shucking, boy.

Hello!
I thought you knew.

[Laughter]

'Cause all my life
I've been told

out of 3 boys and 3 girls
in the family

that I was unable to have kids.

Turned my whole life around.

I mean, I didn't think we needed
to take a DNA test on myself.

She looked exactly like me.

SANDY:
I'm 54, and I'm a father.

ANGELA: Seeing the DNA results
just mean everything,

and it's just amazing
and really cool

to scientifically see
that we are related.

As excited as I was,
I still couldn't quite
comprehend Deborah

and...don't quite want to
believe that she would do that.

Um...I don't know.

I still...I couldn't quite
believe that she would deny me.

Although I do feel more complete

knowing that Sandy's
my birth dad,

I--I still desire to know
my birth mother

in the right light,

'cause I don't think that
that was her true self.

Or at least I don't want
to think that.

I know from my adoption papers
that I have other siblings.

I don't know
if they're half or full.

I'm not sure.

But I want to keep searching
for them,

hopefully finding them

I'd have birth aunts
and birth uncles as well.

I want to know
what they look like.

I just want to see them.

But I want to be respectful
of Deborah,

and it sounds like
she doesn't want to
acknowledge that I exist,

and so that concerns me that
maybe all these birth siblings

don't know that I exist,

and they maybe
don't want to know

and maybe they have hard
feelings about it all, too.

I'm not sure, but--
but I want to keep searching

'cause I just want to--
to see them. Mm-hmm.

[Vocalizing]

ANGELA'S HUSBAND:
Angela was just determined

to continue searching
for every name that she had

on that 3-page document.

Just plugging in those names
to Facebook and Google

and just anything.

And one day she got a match
on Facebook

with one of her birth aunts,
a Belinda Johnson,

and it has said that Belinda
had just joined Facebook

two weeks prior,

so Angela sent her a message
and Belinda wrote back,

and they exchanged
a series of messages,

and then that just set off
this whole new wave of events

that none of us
had really expected.

MAN, OVER ANSWERING MACHINE:
Hello, Angela,

my name is Michael B. Johnson.

I am your oldest male relative
alive.

I need to speak with you.

I just found out.

My oldest sister
told me yesterday.

I wonder if you will call me.

If not, I'll call you
until I get you.

WOMAN: Hey, Angela, this is
your long-lost sister Na-Na.

When you get this message,
give me a call back.

All right, bye.

MAN: Hello and good morning.

This is your uncle Michael.

I thought I would just
leave you a message this morning

in hopes that it might
brighten your day.

WOMAN: Hey, Angela,
this is Aunt Mamie.

Give me a call
when you get free.

Your sister May
called me yesterday,

and so we was talking about you.

I thought I'd give you a call.

Give me a call, sweetie.
You guys be good. Bye-bye.

Hello, this is Angela.
Is this Aunt Mamie?

MAMIE:
Oh, hello, sweet pea,
how you doing?

Good. I'm sorry
I missed your call.

I've been watching
Deborah on Facebook.

[Laughter]

What does Deborah do,
like, all day

or just hanging out
with her friends?

No. She's a--

Do you think that
Deborah will talk to me

when I come?

I don't--

Ha ha ha!

Yeah,
but I don't know her,

and all I want is...

I don't even know
what I want,

but you know--

Yeah.

No. Yeah.

That was exhausting.
I'm exhausted.

But it was fun.
It was really fun.

I wonder about Deborah.

She's just--
She's, like, maybe--

It's so weird being
interested in psychology

and, like, interested
in just figuring people out,

and I'm always pretty much
able to figure people out,

or just like, you know,
ask questions,

but Deborah may be
the one person on this world

that I will not be able
to figure out.

That's fascinating.

It's like of all the people,

you would be the one I would
like to figure out the most.

I may go to try to get
some questions answered,

and then I'll get out
of her life forever

if that's what she wants.

Like, I won't do anything.

I'm not gonna keep trying
to knock on her door,

but...we've already forced
ourselves on her once,

and she didn't take it
well, so it's like...

we really should
do it again, you know?

But the fact is is that
if she wanted to find me,

she would have found me
already,

but she didn't want to.

Right,
and that's ok.

That's all right.

But you'll get to,
you know,

hear her voice and...

maybe she'll share
a few things,

and...where it evolves
after that, it's ok.

Ok.

That's the story.

Ok.

You--but--don't--
You do want to,

like, meet
your siblings and...

I do.

Yeah, 'cause they
really want to meet you.

I know. I'm excited
to meet them,

but there's something
with this Deborah freak

that's just like--

And that's ok.

She can be
however she is,

and I think you
can still get

your basic questions
answered.

Hopefully.
Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

I have a picture painted
that she is very wise,

but that she doesn't
share her wisdom.

You know, they all say
that she just doesn't...

do emotions and that she
doesn't, like, express herself

and that she sits in her house
and watches TV

and doesn't do anything,

but...I just don't...

I don't know if people
haven't tried hard enough.

I think maybe they
probably have tried,

but I think
there's a lot more...

and it would be a shame
if she never...

let that get out,

and maybe I'm the person
that can...

get to the root
of whatever is going on.

I don't know.

[Telephone ringing]

WOMAN: Hello?

Hi, is this Deborah?

Yeah.

Hi. This is Angela.

Angela,
how are you doing?

I'm doing well.
Kind of nervous
to talk to you,

but I'm excited.

Why?

There's a lot of things
special about you.

Ha ha ha!

Yeah, I--

Wow.

Yeah, of me
and my husband?

Mm-hmm.

Which I still apologize
for just showing up like that.

No, no, no.

Oh, no. Oh...

Your sister--
Which one?

Your sister Belinda?

Ha ha!

Well, I just--
I just disagree.

I really feel like
you did the right thing,

and I--
I am just so--

I mean, my life
has been wonderful.

Huh.

Oh! Ah! Oh!

Are you relieved?

Yeah. Are you?

Yeah.

♪ It's hard to see
the good surrounding me ♪

♪ The clouds are covering
truth and the lies ♪

♪ And I'm lost at sea,
waiting for rescuing ♪

♪ No land in sight,
my paddles are dry ♪

♪ Keep your hope alive,
belief in your mind ♪

♪ Yeah, you know ♪

♪ When you're tired of waiting ♪

♪ I'll know you wonder
lying there as you cry ♪

♪ Yeah, you know ♪

♪ Happiness is waiting ♪

♪ Yeah, happiness is waiting ♪

Yeah, you in the back.

Next question.

Uh, yeah.

Um, no.

I did pretty good.

What? How do I feel about
by beaten by a girl?

WOMAN: Yes.

Pretty pathetic!

Race?

Yeah.

So why don't you tell me
about who you are.

We're not recording
yet, are we?

Yeah, I'm just gonna,
you know--

But the thing is,
have we started yet?

All right, we're
starting right now.

There.

Oh, yeah, right.
I can see that.

Oh, yeah, it is.

You can come look at--

Yeah, I see that.
Ha ha!

Dude, I can't do this!

Stop it, please.

Please stop it!

I can't do this!

I'm a little bit
nervous about seeing

the other side
of the family.

I have no idea.
I don't know.

Hey, how are you doing?

Or...I don't know
if I'm gonna be able

to even
understand them.

I just feel like...

they're different.

But I'm black, though.
Look at me. I'm black.

But I just don't
see myself

as a person that
really likes them.

When me and Angela
were going to school,

we were the only
black kids in school.

She raised us to
embrace our heritage.

I didn't want
nothing to do with it.

I wanted to be raised
as a white.

And, um,
I'm a little racist
right now.

What do you think
about ever since last year

when you found out
that Angela was gonna go out

and meet
her birth father?

No comment.
No comment.

Ok.

I have nothing to say,
just happy for her.

TERESA:
When Kyle was born,

his birth mother was intoxicated
during the birth process.

And Kyle was born with
fetal alcohol syndrome.

And that's virtually
all we knew.

So about his birth mother
we only knew a negative.

You know each person has...
isn't just all negative,

that they have lots of
positive parts to the as well.

Kyle and
I are good buddies.

I took him to Disneyland,

which was like
a dream come true for him.

And I had a blast
just watching him have fun.

I'm truly honored
to be his brother-in-law,

but there's a tragedy
in Kyle's life

in that the decisions
his birth mother made

while she was carrying him

will affect him
for the rest of his life.

And the tragedy of it
is that he knows it,

he understands that,

and there are some things

that are difficult for Kyle
to understand or grasp

because of his disability,

but this is something
he understands very clearly.

And so it makes it really hard
for him to talk about it.

So does it--
does it bring up stuff

with your own
adoption story?

You don't need to answer.

I'm a little worried

just how he's gonna handle
going on this trip.

This trip is not gonna be
much sightseeing.

It's gonna be fully focused
and centered on Angela

and us meeting
with her birth family.

And so that's
gonna be difficult,

and it's bound to bring up
some stuff with Kyle,

so I think that
we all just need to kind of

be on the lookout for him

and make sure that
he's doing all right.

WOMAN: ♪ Tell me,
can you make this fray ♪

♪ rattle with fire
like Jeremiah? ♪

♪ Tell me, can you
make my soul rise ♪

♪ Like Ezekiel's bones? ♪

♪ 'Cause I'm not the key ♪

♪ just for anybody
to lay next to me ♪

♪ They gotta change the world ♪

♪ And I'm not the key just for
anybody to make love to me ♪

♪ You gotta change the world ♪

♪ So you better be quick
on your feet ♪

♪ You better be slow
with your tongue ♪

♪ You better have a good head
on those shoulders ♪

♪ So you better be quick
on your feet ♪

♪ You better be slow
with your tongue ♪

♪ You better have a good head
on those shoulders ♪

MAMIE:
Nice to meet you!

[Laughter]

There's my baby!
Yeah!

Look at you.

Let me touch you.

Girl, look at you.

Thank you so much.
Thank you.

[Indistinct chatter]

WOMAN:
Thank you.

I can't stand it.

I don't.

ANGELA:
What's your address?

WOMAN: 1709.

[Indistinct]

What color
is your house?

She's outside,
so come on down.

Show her how
to get to here, baby.

We'll just...

ANGELA'S HUSBAND: We knew
that Deborah's siblings

were really upset
that she had kept

Angela a secret
all these years.

But no one was more upset
than Aunt Belinda.

We had heard that
she wouldn't be coming

to the reunion barbecue
the next day

with Deborah and the rest
of her family,

so we decided to pay Belinda
a separate visit.

We were hoping
to find out

why she was taking all this
so hard.

Oh, my God.

Oh, man.

Ain't she pretty, Mom?

Yeah!

ANGELA:
This is my mom, Teresa.

Come on, now.

Exactly, exactly.

All right, all right.

It is what it is.
It's just that we need to know.

Ok. Ok.

I believe it was.

Oh!

♪ Time is a cold wind
blowing through the leaves ♪

♪ A tired... ♪

ANGELA: I'd always imagined

taking this journey by myself
because it's so personal,

but now that I'm here,

I don't think I could have done
it without my family by my side.

MAN:
♪ ...what happened to us now ♪

ANGELA: It means so much to me
that they want to be here.

MAN: ♪ So would you lend me
a hand ♪

♪ to the promised land ♪

♪ where I'm headed
glory bound? ♪

♪ And it comes and it goes ♪

♪ Where it's headed
no one knows ♪

♪ And we come and we go ♪

♪ All the saints and the liars
sitting by the fire ♪

♪ What'll happen to us now? ♪

Well, since day one,
I wanted to adopt Angela.

But it was not even an option.

It wasn't something
I entertained

because John was
still in school.

We had no health insurance.

He's finishing up
getting his degree,

but he really was barely
supporting, you know, us

as the size family we were
right then.

She's beautiful.

I mean, she's really beautiful.

I guess I knew
she would be beautiful,

but I kind of was taken aback,
like, whoa.

And her spirit.

You know, she's like strong
and sweet at the same time.

It's this
fascinating combination.

I just love watching her.

I like seeing her respond
to my kids.

I like seeing her respond
to people,

you know, asking her questions
and talking,

and it...I was nervous.

I didn't know
what she felt about us.

I didn't know if she felt weird.

I didn't know if
did I ever hurt her feelings

by not reaching out more?

But how would I explain to her

that maybe some of that
was even selfish?

'Cause that would be hard.

[Sniffs]

As hard as it was
to hand her over...

it was really awesome
to spend the time with them

and see who she'd be with.

It's probably
one of those things

like you're totally ok with it
and God used it for good,

and it was all
in his perfect plan

and it's just as it should be.

But you always, you know,
when you go to that time,

you never kind of lose...
the sad part of it, you know.

It's still there. It's...

I'm ok with it.

It's not like I go around crying
all the time about it,

but when I have to revisit it,
you know,

you will remember.

It's been a huge gift,

and frankly very healing for me
to just see her

and interact with her.

[Indistinct chatter]

MAN: Hola!

ANGELA:
Hello!

There she is.

Oh.

And that's how you
got the Sandy,

by the color
of your hair? Oh.

Me, too!

I am, too, yeah.

And I'm adopted, too,

and I'm about to--

I really want to find
my birth family.

Oh, right!

And, uh...

Kyle never really
had an interest

in finding his birth family.

And...so this was
interesting for him

to be an observer.

Watching him meet Sandy
and visit with him

was a pretty big deal.

I mean, he just sat with him
by himself,

just the two of them,

and we could hear a little bit
of what they were saying,

and it was about
finding birth families

and how it was ok
and an ok thing

and kind of a curious thing
to do.

It's been, I mean,
I have--

I'm blessed to have
this family,

but we'll see where...

what kind of family
I have out there.

Yeah, just seeing
the outcome of Angela's story,

it's made an inspiration
out of my...

Yeah.

KRIS:
We were definitely eavesdropping

on their conversation.

Before we went to that party,

I remember there was
a conversation with Kyle

that...where we talked about
if he ever felt overwhelmed
with the party

and with all the things
that Angela's going through

that he should grab one of us
to, you know,

provide a safe zone to just
sort of chill out for a while,

and he was sort of, I think,
relating a lot of things

that Angela was going through
with to himself,

and it was clear that he'd been
moved by the whole experience.

But he needed a little time-out

'cause it was a little
overwhelming, I think.

So we continued that.

Marjorie?

Yeah.

Right back at you.

You like that?
Get this here!

Oh!

[Laughter]

I taught him
everything he know.

Don't tell him
I said that. Oh, my.

Out of all my fights
when I was knocking guys out,

that's what he tell
the cameraman.

"I taught him
everything he knows!"

MAN: Keep going, Kyle!

Woo!

Don't forget it!

Wa-hoo!

Yeah!

Hold your applause.
Hold your applause.

That ain't nothing.

Oh, ho ho!

I'm planning to do
some chin-ups.

Oh, oh!

I'm gonna do 'em,
put my hands behind
my back

and do chins
like this.

He went one hand.

I'm gonna go with none
and take this.

Y'all didn't
believe me, did you?

[Laughter]

He's flying with...

I'm just talking,
brother!

ANGELA'S HUSBAND: This is
the most quiet and serious

that I had ever
seen Angela before.

The van ride over
was almost dead silent.

Even with 8 of us in the van,
nobody was really talking.

We could all sense
how tense Angela was

and just the fear that she had
of this not turning out well.

I do feel like I deserve
to know stuff

and not this kind of--

It feels kind of weird
saying that.

It's like what does anyone
deserve in this world,

but I do feel like
she has an obligation

to tell me some things.

MAN: ♪ Oh, my baby ♪

♪ Oh, my love ♪

♪ Where have you gone? ♪

♪ Where did you go? ♪

♪ I've been waiting,
I've been praying ♪

♪ For you... ♪

WOMAN: You know, when I saw her,
I'm just like,

"God, she is so pretty,

and why is she so tall,"

and, oh, I was a nervous wreck.

I thought I was gonna puke.

Ha ha!

Oh, God.

I just didn't even know what
to say, what do to, you know,

it's just like,
"This is my sister?"

Just that whole relationship,
you know,

it's been longed for, I believe.

I think would have been
a different person

if I would have grown up
with a sister.

MAN: ♪ But I won't
know who I am ♪

♪ Until I know who you are ♪

TERESA: I've waited, like,
for 25 years to thank Deborah,

thank her for sharing Angela.

So I right away, of course,
I wanted to thank her.

And so we started
walking together,

and I was thanking her,

but at the same time,
she was thanking me,

and I'd never thought
about that.

She did a--
just a really hard thing.

She did something that
I'm not sure I could do,

and I did something
that she wasn't able to do.

This is our first--

Lookout Mountain.

Oh, my God.

And she can play--

DEBORAH:
My decision to keep that

from my children
and my family

was so that I would not have
interference in her life.

If my family
had known about her,

they would want her.

And I can understand it.

But I don't think
that would have been
the best thing for her.

I still think
I did the right thing.

But I missed a lot.
I still miss a lot.

I'll go to my grave
missing a lot.

They don't know because
after Angela was born

and after I signed the papers
to give her up for adoption,

I've been on antidepressants
all these years,

but I didn't want to live.

There was nothing for me
to live for.

ANGELA:
I know that there is a file

at Bethany in Chattanooga
got for her

that she never went
and picked up.

All the letters we sent
and pictures every year,

those went to
the Bethany office,

so she may not even know
that they are there.

We could go with her to
the office and pick them up.

She's the only one
that can pick them up,

so, you know, we could
go together maybe.

[Doorbell ringing]

Hi. I'm Peggy.

Hi.

You must be Angela.

Nice to meet you.

It's nice to meet you.

I think we'll just
sit in here.

Go to this room.

Ok, ok, good.
Just wanted to...

ANGELA'S HUSBAND:
I turned off the camera

knowing that I wasn't gonna
be allowed to film anymore

inside the meeting.

But once we got in there,
I asked Peggy once more

if it was ok if I filmed,

and at first she said no,

but then she said, you know,

it's really up
to Deborah, though.

And Deborah without hesitation
spoke up and said,

"I would love for Bryan
to film this."

And I was--I was pretty floored
when she said that.

PEGGY:
You, um, certainly did
a courageous thing

to give her life

and to go through
what you did.

Did you feel comforted
that you had made
a good decision?

But with the diagnosis
at birth, Deborah,

it was something that
you really didn't feel

you could give her
what she needed.

Right. Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm. Sure,
that's a,

that's a heavy secret
to be carrying

all those years,
you know.

And I carried it.

I know, I know.

The reports and pictures

that you were sending
every year,

I do have all those
because your--

the Burts had been sending
you something every year

hoping that you'd be...
receiving those.

And I wanted to
give you those today.

I'll just put them all
in an envelope for you.

There was one every year,

pictures of Angela
growing up,

through all the different ages,
growing up.

Yeah, things
you could have had,

but we just didn't--
I'm so sorry.

We didn't have any way
of getting them to you,

you know.

I think this
would have given you

a lot of comfort

because obviously
they were thinking
about you

each step of the way
and wanting you to know

how well she was doing

and what a good thing
you had done, you know.

We always hoped that she would
some day come into the office

and pick these items up.

But I never in my wildest dreams

thought that I would
be sitting there

and watch her open them up.

It was just unbelievable.

And to watch her and to know

that she was always wondering
where Angela was

and what she looked like
and what she was doing.

Well, it's
a Christmas card,

but it's still
Christmas in July today.

Ha ha!

Oh, man. Oh, man.
Oh, man.

Oh, my...

Oh, my lord.

We just sent you pictures.

Oh, man, I love it.
I love it.

I'm gonna have to
read all of this.

I got a lot of reading
to do.

You do.

PEGGY: Did you have
any other questions for me

or anything I can
try to answer for you

or try to
help you with?

Any of you?

Yes.
Yes, she was.

Um, I do have something
in the record

I can share with you.

I--Would you like me
to do that privately?

No. I consider
these people my family

because they've raised her.

Ok, ok.

This is your
support system, too.

Ok.
Yes, ma'am.

I'll just read
some of these.

In 1984,

you placed an infant,
a baby girl Johnson,

with one of our
adoptive families,

and it gives their name.

I can't share that
with you today.

She's very loved by them

and they continue
to rejoice with the Lord

for his good gifts.

But they continue
to struggle with
some of her needs.

She has been diagnosed
with severe depression

and possible
mental retardation.

Now, I don't know
if all this is
accurate today

because this was back
in '96, you know.

Well, I think
the first step

would be for me
to contact the worker

at that office

and see what they have
in the record there

and if they have any way
of contacting the family

to let them know that
you'd like to have--

make a contact,
you know.

And then we'll
just have to see
where that goes.

Yeah.

DEBORAH: I mean,
it's been a journey.

It's been a journey
for you,

but you know, it's
been a journey for me
down through the years,

but to come to this point
right here,

it's just--
it's nothing I can say.

There's no words.

There's absolutely
no words.

I owe you all a debt

that I'll never
be able to pay.

Good to have met
you, Deborah.

Good to meet you all.

I'm gonna--
You're gonna hear from me.

MAN: ♪ As we gather
round the table ♪

♪ to say a prayer
for those we love ♪

♪ All the words
that will be spoken ♪

♪ will never be enough ♪

♪ to encompass
all the feelings... ♪

It feels unreal that she's gonna
be in Seattle.

Just a couple of years ago,

I didn't even know
if she was alive

or what she was like

or if she would ever
want to know me.

MAN: ♪ ...is an honest song ♪

♪ Our hearts sing
an honest song ♪

You don't actually end it like,
I stare at her.

MAN: ♪ ...catching raindrops ♪

♪ All the time we've spent... ♪

ANGELA: How are we different?

What kind of faces
does she make?

MAN: ♪ ...never see again ♪

♪ So be good
with what you're given ♪

♪ for it's all
you have to give ♪

♪ We are only passing shadows
in a might wind ♪

♪ And the sound it makes... ♪

DEBORAH: Down through the years
I wondered

how she was, where she was,
if she was cared for,

could I have taken care of her
any better than they're doing?

There's no way I could have
taken care of her any better.

I see that now.

I couldn't have done it.

I talked to God about it,
and he said it was gonna be ok.

Believe me, I've talked to him,
I've cried to him,

I've screamed to him.

I locked myself in
and never came out.

And He moved me, and He decided
that it was time for me

to stop hiding in a shell.

So you watch how God
works his miracles.

MAN: ♪ You wear these chains ♪

♪ You've got rhythm
in your step ♪

♪ and you jingle
while you walk ♪

♪ and so you sing ♪

♪ Oh oh oh oh ♪

♪ Your world was dark ♪

Through a child one day,
we all got connected

whether we knew it or not.

We were connected
whether we knew it or not.

And for the rest of my life,
I'll be connected.

MAN: ♪ And break these chains ♪

♪ Your cup ran dry ♪

♪ Though it wasn't yet my time ♪

♪ Where I'll walk
and what I'll calm
I'll turn to wine ♪

♪ You gave what you had ♪

♪ Though impossible it seemed we
broke bread and fed them all ♪

♪ So take and eat ♪

♪ And break these chains ♪

♪ And break these chains ♪

[vocalizing]

♪ And break these chains ♪