Henry Miller exaggerating about destiny quotes that “Every man has his own destiny: the only imperative is to follow it, to accept it, no matter where it leads him.” Nobody has control over it nor anybody could question why is it happening to him or her. No matter how much time it takes, what is meant to be is definitely going to be showcased at a point of time. Here is a story about how fate changed the life of a lady named Gayle Brandeis who tried really hard to escape from her fate.
Gayle was a teacher at Sierra Nevada College back in 2010 when she was going through her dark phase of life. Though she used to smile from outside, her mind battled against her insecurities, problems and other matters that disturbed her. She was emotionally passive but was socially very active. One such platform she used to showcase her made-up smile was Facebook.
As soon as Gayle got any free lectures, she used to scroll down her facebook news and feeds so that she could keep herself up-to-date. She used to receive many compliments in the comment session and she was somewhat popular in the world of facebook.
Gayle believed in herself and was sure of what consequences her actions might make. She had always been independent and used to make her decisions all by herself so that she could not experience what regret is. She hated exterior invasion in her life and continued being the same every time.
She was a loving wife. She did all household works and even she managed to work simultaneously. Her life was quite monotonous and she missed the good old days when she used to be free. One day, while preparing dinner, her phone chimed and she ran to find her phone.
On reaching the phone, the first thing she did was to remove the screen lock. Without wasting further time, she logged in her facebook and started refreshing the news and feeds. Her facebook inbox started to flash. Excited to read messages, she opened her inbox. The sender was unknown which made her ignore the message and continuing scroll down.
Having kept aside her phone, she continued her cooking. Suddenly she felt as if she had heard the sender's name before. She tried hard to recall but all she could remember was a pang of fear which she could revisit. She was curious to know the reason behind her this situation. So she fetched for her phone once again.
On opening the text, she could scroll up as previous messages were also present there. She read those messages and tried hard not to react. She was surely baffled but could not believe what she read so she decided not to think about it anymore and thought that it must be a prank by someone. She discovered that the sender tried to reach out to her six years back as well.
She had no idea why was someone messaging her like that. She was way too shocked on reading those exchanged texts. All she knew was that she had a family and she loved her family the most. The issue was a bit critical, that is why she kept her husband out of the matter.
The next day, Gayle get herself busy in the household works and was about to leave for the college. Before she goes to college, her husband prepares a strong coffee for both of them. They enjoy spending their quality "coffee time" together every morning. But that day, he spotted a little difference in her behavior but he did not say anything to her. He kissed her goodbye and left for his office as well.
Gayle struggled hard to look calm and she succeeded to an extent. She made herself realize that she had nothing to worry about. The message she received could be a prank and in that note, she headed to deliver her next lecture in a class.
While she was delivering her lecture, she heard her phone ringing. Initially, she ignored the call and continued with her delivery. But when the phone would not stop ringing, she asked the students to excuse her for a moment and went outside the class to attend the phone call. Though the number was unsaved, she attended the call.
On receiving the call, Gayle got to know that on the other side of the call was a private investigator. He wanted to ask some private information regarding Gayle's identity and her past. She was perplexed as she had no clue about what was happening with her life. She kept mum and let the investigator give the actual reason behind the phone call.
When the caller introduced himself as the private investigator, the only person she could imagine was her mother. She thought that her mother had hired them to help locate the fortune that she still believed Gayle’s father was hiding from the family. So, Gayle chose not to speak but listen to what information the investigator was about to reveal.
Gayle was taken aback when she got to know that the investigator was not hired by her mother. Instead of providing some information, he was continuously asking some personal questions to her which made her feel a bit uncomfortable. She could connect the talks to the texts she received on facebook. Befuddled, she hung up the call.
Gayle, in 1985 was a girl of seventeen when she took her first independent decision. Though society considered girls of her age "immature", as mentioned, she was rebellious and placed her self-worth before everything. The investigator took her back in time when she experienced her first sexual intercourse with all her consent.
Gayle clearly remembers that she had safe intercourse which did not result in any sort of unwanted pregnancy. She never regretted whatever happened in the past as it was her decision and nobody was to be blamed for that. She even shared this truth with her husband and he was all cool with it. She believed in having a transparent relationship so she hid nothing from her husband.
As she was clear about her past, she called up the investigator again. Gayle told the detective that he must be mistaken and he must be looking for another Gayle Brandeis. She assured the investigator that she was not the one whom he was looking for. The investigator thanked her for her time and hung up.
Gayle was wondering what could the matter be. The investigator came straight to the point and exclaimed, “Your son is looking for you…The son you gave away in 1985.” Initially, she was surprised to hear that. She calmed herself down and recalled her old days. After being very sure on her part, she then called the investigator and told him that he was hugely mistaken.
Gayle was happy about solving the puzzle. She thought that she would never face that type of scenario again ever in her life. To her dismay, her happiness could not last long. A Facebook message appeared on her screen again that brought back all the uncertainty of the messages she had received so far. She chose not to reply to the messages.
Gayle was outraged when the sender introduced himself as "the abandoned boy from 1985". She did not know how to react. She felt that she was being stalked by someone and that person is haunting her. She left her room and switched off her phone.
The next day when Gayle Brandeis came back to senses, she thought that it was all made up. She was already toiling with her mother’s psychotic break-outs and suicidal attempts her mother made. It was hard for her to believe that her mother succeeded in one of the attempts and was no more on this earth. She was recovering steadily but the message she received disturbed her holistic recovery.
Gayle, putting all her fears aside, switched her phone on and logged on Facebook. She was sure that whatever she read was just an illusion. With that cue, she pressed the inbox icon and waited for the page to refresh. Poor Gayle, could not do anything other than reading those questions again and again.
Those messages tormented Gayle every time she went through them. She could not take more of it so she decided that was the high time to clear many misconceptions. She prepared herself to face it all by replying to the texts.
With all her left courage, she opened up the chatbox and started typing that she hadn’t given birth in 85’ and that she wished him luck in his search for his Gayle Brandeis. This made her heart feel a little lighter. She waited for a while for the man to reply. After 2 minutes, she could see the typing notification on her phone screen.
Gayle waited for the man to reply. To her surprise, the man apologized for bothering Gayle and on that note, he said “Be Well” and signed off. Gayle realized that she needed those words of comfort in her time of mourning. She recently lost her mother and she could truly empathize with the man who was in search of his mother.
Gayle tried not to think about the matter much but she could not resist herself from doing so because she was going through the same loss. She could do nothing except for wishing her luck. She headed on to live her life forgetting this incident.
Gayle Brandeis along with her husband started living a happy life putting an end to that part. She continued going to college and her husband went to the office. Both of them were experiencing a healthy relationship until another shock showed up on their ways.
In 2016, their lives drastically changed and their peace of mind got disturbed. Gayle tried hard to forget her past but she could not get over it. A message, for the second time, made her feel the chills that she forgot in a couple of years. She could experience the same old Gayle who was all appalled back then.
Again, the pages of the past refreshed. Gayle, while having wonderful years had never imagined that the past she ignored would come back in front of her eyes, haunting her again. For the very first time, she doubted her past deeds.
Gayle shivered on seeing that name again on her computer screen. Accumulating all her strength, she opened the message. She was mystified and rubbed her eyes so that she could make sure whatever she read was true. the words “Are you my Mother?” shone brightly in the message box. She thought that the sender's hunt for his mother was not over yet.
The mysterious sender had reached out again to her. The reason was clear that he wanted to bother Gayle. It seemed, despite his best efforts, he’d had no luck finding the woman who was his biological mother. He wanted answers from Gayle because he believed that Gayle was purposefully not acknowledging him as her son.
Gayle started referring to that man as her "Shadow Son". She got to hear from him that he was soon going to become a father. He wanted to inform Gayle that incase she was his mother, then she is going to be a grandmother real soon. Impressed by his dedication, Gayle offered to be a "mother figure" for him but, all he needed was answers.
Shadow Son clarified that there are some important reasons why he wanted to know the truth. One of those reasons was his health conditions. He was struggling with some health concerns and he needed to know if she was his mother so that he could ask her details such as medical information.
Gayle had to answer him with the same statement she made years back. She continued typing that she wasn’t the woman he was looking for. She added that she was not his biological mother but, she was willing to help him in finding his real mother. She said so because she wanted to find some sort of closure for this topic.
Gayle talked about the issue with her husband. Her husband too could empathize with his young man and he too wanted to help him. The couple decided to work together as a team to track down the biological mother of the "Shadow Son".
It had been a decade and four years since the private investigator first called Gayle. In all that time Gayle had never considered helping the man as an option. The couple soon went into full detective mode to track the person's mother. This situation somehow brought the couple closer to the Shadow Son. Finally, after some months of their continuous search, they were able to find the real mother.
The couple successfully accomplished their mission of finding the mother. What came up as a real shock was, the person whom they were relentlessly hunting, was no more. The real mother had passed away a couple of years prior. Gayle could not hold back her tears because she knew that her shadow son longed for his real mother all life long.
Gulping all her worries, she prepared herself to break the news to her shadow son. The staggered son did not get moved as much as she believed he would. From that very day, both of them started being open up with one another. They were strangers who were turning together to become a family.
The two of them shared a mutually beneficial relationship. The shadow son had found a mother figure in Gayle and through their combined efforts, they found his biological sister. They were destined to be together and lastly they believed that fate and destiny play their roles accordingly.