I love a story with a happy ending.
I'm a sucker for a movie where everything works out in the end. The same goes for real life, like the abused dog who made a full recovery and inspired a community. It really warms my heart when a pet or a person is able to overcome adversity and turn their struggles into something positive.
So at first when I heard this story, I was horrified. But when I finally heard the ending? My heart melted.
In 1968, Fay Bliss was walking past a dustbin (which is a common British term for a garbage can) on a cold November night when she heard crying coming from the bin. When she looked inside, she was shocked to find a newborn baby, Michelle Rooney. Now almost fifty years later, Michelle Rooney talks to the Daily Mail, and what began as a terrible act of desperation finally comes full circle.
This heartwarming story of forgiveness and redemption proves that happy endings really do occur.
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h/t The Daily Mail
Baby Michelle Rooney was discovered in a dustbin in London in 1968 by a woman passing by, Fay Bliss. Michelle was immediately nicknamed "The Dustbin Baby" by the media and a search for her parents was unsuccessful.
Luckily for Michelle, she was adopted by Les and Daphne Fuller who raised her with their other children at their home in Surrey. Growing up as a part of the Fuller Family, Michelle was unaware of how she had been discovered as a baby. But when Michelle reached her 21st birthday, she read newspaper clippings about "The Dustbin Baby" and learned that she had been adopted by the Fullers.
Over the years that followed, Michelle became determined to find her birth parents. She harbored no ill will towards them. Unable to make progress for years, Michelle took up the search again last year just before her 46th birthday. She made a public appeal to her mother saying, "Mum, if you are reading this, please get in touch with me. I'm not angry with you, I've never hated or blamed you, but I'd like some answers." Amazingly, Angie Smith responded.
Nervous but excited, Michelle was reunited with her birth mother, Angie Smith, after nearly 50 years. She told the Daily Mail, "I was so nervous my heart was pounding as I saw her for the first time." She went on, "But as we embraced, it was like greeting an old friend. It felt natural, as if we had always known each other, yet also surreal."
Michelle discovered that Angie Smith had left Michelle at the age of 23. She had been divorced and was hiding her pregnancy from her family. She had given birth in her family's garden shed, scared of being shamed and shunned by her strict family. Angie had hoped Michelle would be found by a loving family. Angie told the Daily Mail, "Abandoning Michelle was an act of desperation for which I have felt guilty my entire life. Not a day has passed when I didn't think about her."
Prior to finding Angie, Michelle was able to track down her biological father as well, John Good. John was shocked to find out that he had a daughter he didn't know about. He had had a brief fling with Angie after her divorce but wasn't aware that she became pregnant. Sadly, Mr. Good passed away last year, but Angie was glad to have had the chance to meet her biological dad.
While Angie's act had been extremely desperate, her reconciliation with Michelle has helped both women end a decades long mystery and find closure. Michelle told the Daily Mail, "I'd been searching for Angie for 25 years and now that missing part of my life was complete." Angie and Michelle are both ecstatic to have found one another. Angie has even spent time with Michelle's family, meeting her two grandsons for the first time. Baby Michelle fortunately grew up to have a happy ending after all!
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