The life story of June, an 18-year-old girl, resembles a movie script and is just another example that there are things that we can never predict, not even in our wildest dreams.
She started her story explaining that she and her boyfriend, Alex, fated for seven months, but they were able to form a really strong bond. Somehow, they both felt they were meant for one another.
On his 18th birthday, Alex said he wanted to introduce her with his parents.
“I’m excited for you to meet them, Junie,” Alex said. “I think you’ll really love my mom. You both have the same dry humor.”
When Alex spoke of his parents, it was obvious that he and his mom and dad adored him. He shared how they had a lot of fun during movie nights at home and how supportive they were of him.
June was happy for him knowing that he, just like her, was adopted. It was beautiful that both of their adoptive parents turned out to be great people.
In fact, when June turned seventeen, her adoptive parents told her everything about her biological mom. As June really wanted to meet her, she learned who she was and the two agreed to have coffee together. But the meeting was a short one as June’s biological mom left the place quickly, claiming she needed to be elsewhere.
That was the only time the two had seen each other.
When June and Alex went to his place, it was his father Thomas who greeted them at the door.
“You must be June!” he exclaimed, hugging her. “Alex has told us so much about you! I’m Thomas.”
“Yes, it’s so nice to finally meet you,” June said, suddenly nervous about her outfit choice.
“Alex’s Mom just went to get some donuts. We have birthday cake, too. But Alex loves his donuts,” Thomas said.
June kept looking at the door. She couldn’t wait to finally meet Alex’s mom because she was the one June wanted to impress.
Moments later, the mom entered the house, carrying a box of donuts in her hands.
The world then stopped for a moment for June. She found herself looking straight at the woman who gave her up for adoption. It was the craziest coincidence.
“June,” she whispered, her expression revealing a mix of shock and recognition.
“What are you doing here?” June asked.
“Wait, you two know each other?” Alex asked in confusion.
It was then that June said, “Your mom is my biological mother.”
Alex started asking for an explanation, and that’s when his mom, Elizabeth, revealed the truth. She confessed that she had given birth to a baby girl 18 years ago, but she was way too young to be able to keep her and take care of her.
“Years later, unable to have a child of our own, Thomas and I adopted Alex. He’s always known he was adopted, that we chose him, and loved him,” Elizabeth said.
June had plenty of questions. “Why didn’t you reach out after I found you?” she asked her mother.
“I was scared,” Elizabeth admitted. “I didn’t know if reaching out would be worse. I thought I was protecting us. I didn’t know how Alex would react to having a sister of sorts, especially one that was the same age as him and biologically my child. I didn’t want to hurt him in any way.”
For both June and Alex, this revelation was a lot to take in. Although there was no biological connection between them, the circumstances of their family ties necessitated a reevaluation of their relationship.
At the end of the day, his mom was her mom, and that felt too close to home.
Dan Haggerty, Who Played Grizzly Adams
Dan Haggerty, who gained widespread recognition for his portrayal of the kind mountain man with a striking beard and his bear friend Ben in the NBC television series and 1974 film “The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams,” passed away on Friday in Burbank, California. His age was 73 years.
Terry Bomar, his manager and friend, stated that spinal cancer was the cause of death.
Dan Haggerty was creating a name for himself in Hollywood as an animal handler and stuntman before landing his famous part. When a producer requested him to appear in a few opening moments for a film about a woodsman and his bear, it was his big break. The plot, which is based on a novel by Charles Sellier Jr., centers on a man who flees to the woods after being wrongfully convicted of murder, becomes friends with the local wildlife, and takes in an abandoned bear.
Haggerty accepted to do the part, but he had one requirement: he had to appear in the whole film. Despite having a relatively low budget of $165,000, the film’s remake brought in close to $30 million at the box office. Because of this popularity, a television series was created, and in February 1977, Haggerty went back to playing the character of the wild and outdoorsy wilderness guardian.
The audience responded well to the show. It lukewarms the heart, as The New York Times’ John Leonard observed in his review. A large lump in the throat and a lot of communing with nature are experienced when a man and a bear hide out in a log cabin. Haggerty won a 1978 People’s Choice Award for being the most well-liked actor in a new series because of the series’ warm and sympathetic tone, which won over a lot of viewers.
The series also yielded two follow-ups: “Legend of the Wild,” which was broadcast on television in 1978 and eventually released in theaters in 1981, and “The Capture of Grizzly Adams,” a 1982 television film in which Adams ultimately exonerates himself of the false charge.
Born in Los Angeles on November 19, 1942, Daniel Francis Haggerty had a difficult upbringing. He had a turbulent childhood, breaking out of military school several times before coming home with his actor-father in Burbank when his parents divorced when he was three years old.
Haggerty was married twice in his personal life. When he was 17, he got married to Diane Rooker, but they later got divorced. In 2008, he lost his second wife, Samantha Hilton, in a horrific motorbike accident. His children, Don, Megan, Tracy, Dylan, and Cody, survive him.
In his debut motion picture, “Muscle Beach Party” (1964), Haggerty portrayed bodybuilder Biff. After that, he played supporting parts in motorcycle and wildlife movies. He was a hippie commune member in “Easy Rider.” He also played the role off-screen, living with a variety of wild creatures he had either tamed or rescued on a small ranch in Malibu Canyon.
His expertise with animals led to positions as an animal trainer and stuntman for television shows including “Daktari” and “Tarzan.” He kept taking on parts like “Where the North Wind Blows” (1974) and “The Adventures of Frontier Fremont” (1976) that highlighted his affinity for the natural world. His love of outdoor parts brought him roles evoking Grizzly Adams to movies like “Grizzly Mountain” (1997) and “Escape to Grizzly Mountain” (2000).
Haggerty had appearances in a number of horror movies later in his career, such as “Terror Night” (1987) and “Elves” (1989). He was involved in court in 1985 and was given a 90-day jail sentence for distributing cocaine to police officers who were undercover.
Tragic incidents also occurred in his life. Haggerty suffered third-degree burns to his arms when a diner carrying a burning drink unintentionally caught his renowned beard on fire in 1977 when he was dining. Despite being admitted to the hospital and supposed to stay for a month, he left after just ten days, claiming to have expertise of curing animals.
“The first couple of days I just lay in the dark room drinking water, like a wounded wolf trying to heal myself,” he said, reflecting on his injury, to People magazine.
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