Martin Schmidt had known he was adopted ever since he was a little child. He had been raised by his amazing adoptive parents, William and Cynthia Schmidt, who never stopped him from reaching out to his biological parents, Michele Newman and Dave Lindgren. Still, Martin didn’t push it. But when his wife, Carin, got pregnant, he felt the sudden urge to meet his biological parents. Never in his wildest dreams could he have predicted what would end up happening next.Michele had just broken up with Dave Lindgren, who was the baby’s father. Given that the young Wisconsin teen had zero support from her family or the baby’s father, she made the choice to put the baby up for adoption, and eventually, both teenage parents went on their way.
Michele felt that there wasn’t any bad blood between them, but they had decided to split up nonetheless. “Dave was a good man with a good heart, and we were both doing things we shouldn’t have.” When the baby was born during a major blaze on a winter, he was immediately adopted by Cynthia and William Schmidt, who were beyond happy about becoming parents to a beautiful young boy.
He was loved and taken care of by a loving family. “They absolutely loved me like I was biologically born. I have a great family,” Martin said. When he got older, he moved to Colorado, and eventually met the love of his life, Carin, whom he married.
When she got pregnant with their first born, Martin felt the sudden urge to know more about his biological parents. Thankfully, the adoption’s paperwork was open and he was able to get in touch with both Michele and Dave.
Michele received a phone call that left her in tears, but these were good tears to say the least. She had been living in Hilo Hawaii for a while, working with a family services nonprofit organization that helped domestic violence victims. The second she got that call, she started crying. “I called my mom. Then I went back to work and told my boss ‘I’ve got to go home for the rest of the day,’” she recalled.
She had always wondered about Martin, and how his life turned out,. Being in her 50s, she simply couldn’t believe how blessed she was to have received that phone call that virtually changed everything. “We were two strangers, meeting for the first time, who already had an emotional bond,” said Martin, of meeting his bio mom at last. But now, there was one more person he needed to reach out to. Michele hadn’t seen Martin’s biological dad in over 35 years, and it was time to get in touch and reunite the family.
He was simply dumbfounded when his ex-girlfriend from back in day reached out. They talked for hours and hours. It turns out that Dave had been pretty busy during these last few decades., as he had been married three times and had three amazing kids. He also had four stepchildren. As time went by, Michele and Dave stayed in touch, sharing more and more, and opening up about everything that went on after they put Martin up for adoption. “We were going through all these serious life topics. We became very close that way,” Michele shared.
But life is full of twists and turns! Neither Michele nor Dave had even considered the trip to be romantic, but the second they saw each other again, sparks flew and they realized their feelings hadn’t dwindled down, not even a bit. “I guess my heart was already halfway there,” said Michele. “Because the minute I saw him, I just thought to myself, ‘Oh my god.’” Dave on the other hand quickly realized that this was the woman he was meant to be with. “I could just tell,” Dave claimed. “This is it.”
She decided to leave Hawaii, mainly because she wanted to explore this new relationship that had begun many years ago when they were both teens. But Michele’s mom was also getting old, so in a way, it was like fate wanted her to move back to Wisconsin, and she did. The next August, the two lovebirds got married in a lovely backyard ceremony surrounded by friends and family, and their new blended families. And who was there to officiate the wedding? Their beloved son Martin, who had been the one who brought them and their entire families together after all these years.
