Dorothy, who never had children, took a DNA genetic test on a whim, hoping to find distant relatives. To her shock, she was informed she had a daughter, though she had never been pregnant.
Dorothy Weaver didn’t feel lonely until she lost her husband at 57. Both she and her husband, Thomas, were human rights lawyers deeply engrossed in their work.
They met at a college protest and fell in love instantly. Over their 35 years together, they occasionally considered starting a family, but their dedication to their causes always took precedence.
Time passed faster than Dorothy could have imagined, and one day, having a baby was no longer an option — but adoption was. Dorothy and Tom began the adoption process just before he passed away.
Dorothy was in her office, strategizing to save a teenager on death row, when the call came. She answered, feeling irritated. “This had better be good!” she snapped.
“Mrs. Weaver?” The quiet voice on the line made her hair stand on end. “It’s about your husband, Mr. Thomas Weaver…”
Dorothy dropped the phone, barely registering the sympathetic voice and explanations. Tom was gone. His brave heart had failed. “I’m alone,” she whispered. “I’m all alone.”
While Tom had loving parents, Dorothy was moved from one foster home to another until she aged out of the system. Her intelligence and determination got her into college and law school.
There’s always something within us that guides us to our destined place.
Now, arriving home, there was no Tom to share a glass of wine over takeout pasta, no one to debate their cases with, no one in the cold, empty bed.
The profound sense of incomplete she felt her whole life vanished when she met Tom. Now, that terrible loneliness consumed her life.
Dorothy increased her office hours, taking on more cases, until one day she collapsed during a passionate closing argument for a young homeless mother who had killed a social worker. Dorothy, the woman of steel, was no more.