Access Granted

I woke up to news that would unlock my purpose and grant me access to my divine destiny. Of course I didn't know this at first. It was a typical Monday morning as I sat at the table drinking my coffee and punching the invisible clock on my laptop as I frantically continued my search for a new job. It's true what they say, looking for work really is work. So I start my day and suddenly hear my doorbell ring. I wasn't expecting company so I looked out the window of my downtown apartment to see who it was, and to my surprise I see a delivery driver dressed in an all black uniform with his work truck parked in the middle of the street.

I opened the door and he immediately asked me to verify that my name was Hayden Michelle Westbrook. I confirmed and he then asked me to verify my birthday which was October 15, 1995. Afterward, he asked me to sign for a certified letter and package that had important information inside of it. I didn't think to ask who the package was from, I just signed it and went back inside of my apartment wondering what the hell just happened! I sat down and looked at the sender's information on the letter and the package, they were both from the same woman but I didn't know who she was or how she got my home address.

Ironically, we shared the same last name but the name Mackenzie Elizabeth Westbrook did not ring a bell. I opened the package first, which was a small, brown wooden box with my name engraved across the top. I opened the box to find a sparkling gold heart-shaped locket. The diamonds on the locket were real and I later learned it was thirteen carats! I opened the locket and there was a picture on each side. To the left was a picture of Mackenzie. I knew it because her name was nicely designed across the top. Then to the right I see a baby picture and tears came to my eyes when I saw my name across the top it because it was the first time I had ever seen any of my baby or childhood pictures.

You see, I was adopted by an older couple named Larry & Clara Brown when I was a baby. They told me when I was about seven that they weren't my real parents but they never seemed to have any information about my biological parents or the reason that I was given to them to raise. They weren't even able to explain how I got the name Westbrook. All they told me was that I was mixed race and that my mom was Caucasian and my father was African-American. I knew nothing else. The Browns were good to me and they allowed me to call them Mom and Dad even though I knew they weren't my real parents.

Mr. and Mrs. Brown died six months apart the year after I graduated from high school. I was only 19-years-old at the time. I got the surprise of my life when I learned that neither of them had life insurance policies so trying to have a proper funeral for them was very expensive. Anyway, my life changed after they died and here I am six years later feeling like the same lost little orphan. I realized a year ago that nothing I did in this life would mean anything without knowing who I really am and where I came from. I always hoped I could put a little more pressure on my foster parents to tell me more about my background when I got older but they died before I got the chance. So I knew finding answers would be up to me.

Well, today my answers came in form of a heart shaped locket and a letter written by Mackenzie who I learned was my birth mother. She wrote the letter six months before she died and in her will, it was requested that this letter and the locket be sent to me. I initially wondered how she knew where to send it but by the end of the letter, I really didn't care to find out because I finally got the truth I had been seeking for all these years. My mother was eighteen when she gave birth to me and she was forced by her parents to give me up for adoption when they learned that my father was African-American. They didn't care how she went about it, they just told her that she couldn't bring me home. So she sent me to live with my biological father's parents, Larry & Clara Brown after finding out that my biological father, Lamar Brown committed suicide a couple of weeks after I was born.

At the end of the letter, my birth mother's letter instructed me to lift up the piece that the locket was on when I initially opened it. I lifted it and found a key. The letter went on to explain that the key was to a safe deposit box with my name on it. In the box was the information I would need to cash out on a two million dollar life insurance policy and a quarter of a million dollar trust fund in my name. It took some time but I was able to get the money and here I am a year later living free because through a letter and a heart shaped locket, I was able to get the answers I needed to close a chapter in my life of knowing who I was.

Everyone who had my answers were deceased and I'm sure if they were here, I would have had more questions to ask. For example, why didn't my foster parents tell me that I was their granddaughter? Did they know their late son was my father? But it was okay because I still felt special. It was clear by what my birth mother said and even what she did for me that she really did love me and I believe she regrets allowing her parents to control her life by making the decision to give up her own daughter just because she was mixed race. But I have no animosity in my heart towards anyone because I still found myself and this discovery was the key to me finding out my purpose and what I was created for!