A Mesquite woman was adopted at birth into the Love family. Years passed, but curiosity about her birth parents never left.
Stacy Love was recently reunited with her father 36 years after her adoption and she grew up 50 miles away from her dad, David Epperson, without knowing it.
"There would be people in school that I looked just like. So you’re always wondering 'Where do I come from?' As a child you’re always wondering," Love said.
Because her adoption was closed, the searching seemed tough but she found her biological cousin and grandmother on the website Ancestry.com.
"[My cousin] called me and I said, 'Is David my dad?’ and she said, 'Yes, you’re right!' After that I had so many emotions at once," Love said.
The time finally came for Love to lock eyes with her birth father, David Epperson, for the first time. The two met at a restaurant in Rockwall.
"I could not believe how much I looked like this person. I have his cheekbones, his eyes, his dimples," Love said.
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When David Epperson was 18 years old he had his first child, a girl.
"Her mother’s family urged us to give Stacy up for adoption. It was a closed adoption. All we knew was that her last name was 'Love.' I didn’t know if her family still lived in Texas, but it is something that you always wonder about. Even though I was a young person at the time, you still feel guilty about giving up your child, and you hope to make that up some day," David Epperson said.
Love recently got married, and because of her experience, she is planning on adopting her own children.
"That’s selfless love. My birth parents didn’t have to do that, but they put my life and another family’s happiness above their own. That’s sacrificial love," Love said.
Since Epperson and Love met, they have talked and sent texts every day.
"Some people don’t ever find their birth parents," Love said. "They search their whole lives and they don’t know what to look for. I was very very blessed in that I found a huge family."
"I’m on cloud nine," Epperson said. "It’s hard to explain the way it makes you feel, but I feel whole again."
