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LINDA ANNTOINETTE-MARIE TURCOTTE
(aka THE GYPSY ROSE)
June 12, 1951 – May 4, 2023
Today marks one year since you left this world. It was in a blink of an eye.
I often find myself thinking of you. I wonder if it is the same way you had thought of me for all those years?
Separated by 50 years. Today they call it the 60s Scoop. I was taken on your 18th birthday. Three months after being told your baby daughter was not going to survive long after her birth. I was two months from my second birthday.
Abandoned by the child welfare system, you were left to pick up the fragmented pieces and rebuild your life without any support.
This was no Hallmark story. There would be No Prince Charming, No Happy-ever-after.
I was moved 1,500 miles through the foster system, where I was eventually adopted before my fourth birthday. My identity changed, my mother changed, my heritage changed…my truth changed.
As the years passed my memories faded, yet you never forgot. Your search for me continued as you welcomed and raised three additional daughters.
As more time passed, you welcomed a fourth daughter into your life and were eventually reunited with the daughter you believed perished so many years before. And yet, your search for me continued.
As I transitioned from boy to man…husband to father, I remained unaware of your search and the mistruths that were deeply woven into my identity.
The road to reconciliation is difficult. It was intergenerational trauma that had separated us. And, would need to be the same trauma we faced in reunification.
It was August 28, 2019 when I was eventually found and November 29th we would reunite once again as mother and son. I was no longer that little boy you desperately longed-for all those years, yet your love and acceptance of me was immediate and unconditional.
The four years we had together were filled with you sharing stories and in me relearning what it was to be your son. Together, we retraced our time within a broken child welfare system, compelling today’s government to release our files, so we can face our truth and begin the reconciliation process…together.
You filled me with your love, and brought with it my identity, heritage, sisters, family and truth. Your kindness and belief in the goodness of love remains your legacy.
I am forever changed for the better because of you. YOU will forever live-on in my heart mom.
– Your son, Davy (aka David M)
The Journey
Today I will take a journey, one only I can make.
To a place deep within all my courage and strength it will take.
I started deep within my mind, where I found rooms of every kind.
The rooms were dark and ominous. I had to see what I’d find.
I would completely search each room, before I’d start the other.
I laughed and cried at what I found. At times I thought I’d smother.
I kept the laughter, some of the tears, and set them on a shelf.
All the things I did not want, I disposed of these myself.
The journey seemed so endless, where I would fall in bitter defeat.
But I grabbed my shield, lit my torch and got back on my feet.
Yes, today I made my way on a Journey, one only I could take.
With love, strength and courage, another Journey I’ll someday face.
– Linda Anntoinette-Marie Turcotte
As published in Winnipeg Free Press on May 04, 2024, May 04, 2024
