Since he was young, Benjamin Hulleberg from Utah already knew he was adopted. He only knew her biological mom by her first name which is “Holly” and growing up, he really wanted to know her personally.
Thankfully, his adoptive parents have always supported his desire to meet his real mother.
“It was always a very positive conversation,” Benjamin told Good Morning America. “It was my parents either expressing gratitude for Holly or me talking about how I’m grateful for her and how I want to meet her one day.”
Benjamin is now 20 years old and is working as a middle school substitute teacher. He never thought that after two decades, his dream of meeting his mom will turn into a reality.
Goodbye and hello.
Holly was just 15 years old and was 6 months pregnant when he started looking for parents with the capability of giving her soon-to-be-born child a good life. Luckily, through an adoption agency, she met his son’s adoptive parents, Brian and Angela Hulleberg.
However, she never knew their last name at that time.
When Holly finally gave her newborn son to his new parents, it was heartbreak and peace of mind at the same time because she knew Angela and Brian would give Benjamin a good life. It wasn’t an easy decision, and although she’s just a young teenager, she loved her son from the bottom of her heart even for that short while.
A birthday surprise.
On his 20th birthday, Benjamin received a Facebook message, a birthday greeting to be exact. Little did he know, the person who anonymously sent him the warm birthday greeting was his biological mother, 36-year-old, Holly Shearer.
“I can remember the exact place that I was at when I got the message. I was at work. I was a machine operator and I remember I was in machine No. 15,” Benjamin said while trying to recall that very moment when he received Holly’s message. “I was in between our hourly quality checks and I got on my phone and I saw her message and I just replied.”
Turns out, Holly had already found Benjamin a couple of years earlier by looking for him online, but she decided not to reach out to him to introduce herself.
“He had so much going on his life. … The last thing I wanted to do is to throw a wrench in his life. So I just watched from a distance,” she said.
But after years of watching from afar, Holly finally had the courage to unveil the truth, that she’s his biological mother.
Shocked but extremely happy, Benjamin finally found his biological mother, something that he’s been waiting to happen for the past two decades.
Meet and greet.
He wasted no time and immediately asked to meet Holly, so the next day, November 21, 2021, after that exchange of messages, they all had dinner together with both their families. When the two finally met eye-to-eye, they greeted each other with a warm hug and a lot of tears.
The reunion lasted for over three hours, there, Benjamin was also able to meet his younger half-brother and half-sister.
Another thing that surprised the reunited mom and son was the fact that they had both been working at St. Mark’s Hospital in Salt Lake City for the last two years. Holly works as a medical assistant at The Heart Center while Benjamin volunteers at the NICU.
Benjamin now calls Holly “mom” and they promised to see each other more often.
What a beautiful story!
Make sure to watch the video below to know more about Benjamin, Holly, and their heartwarming reunion after 20 years.
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