On Her 32nd Birthday Woman Finds Newborn Baby on Doorstep with the Note, ‘This Is Your Grandson’ — Story of the Day

A successful thirty-two-year-old woman finds a newborn on her doorstep and realizes it's the child of the daughter she had neglected as a teenage single mother.

Do you believe we are doomed to repeat the mistakes of our parents? Is life a vicious circle of cause and effect that leads to misery and unhappiness, or do we have a choice, an opportunity to break the pattern and make amends?

Carla Osterman was the owner of a successful business. She did what she wanted, when she wanted, and no one gainsaid her. Her past was shadowy, but she believed it, and its mistakes were far behind her.

Carla was wrong. She was about to witness a reprisal of the tragedy of her life, and it all started when she found a baby on her doorstep on her thirty-second birthday.

Carla gasped. There was a bassinet on her doorstep and she caught a glimpse of two tiny fists waving in the air and heard a soft gurgle. Carla fell to her knees next to the bassinet and peered inside.

The wide, unfocused blue eyes of a newborn looked up at her, and a pink mouth widened into a gummy yawn. Carla saw that there was a note pinned to the pale blue blanket.

She picked up the piece of paper and unfolded it. "Dear mama," she read. "This is your grandson. I hope you can be a better grandmother than you were a mother."

The paper crumpled between Carla's hands. "Jenny!" she whispered. "Oh, no!"

Carla had been fifteen years old when she realized that she might be pregnant, and like the frightened child that she was, she'd hidden her condition from everyone, strapping in her growing belly.

Carla's mother had been fond of the drink, and so she hadn't noticed the changes in her daughter. One afternoon, a week after her sixteenth birthday, Carla collapsed at school, and hours later, she gave birth to Jenny.

Carla had been unprepared for motherhood, and her mother had been incapable of helping her. Little Jenny had been frequently dirty, hungry, and unattended.

The mistakes of our past can come back to haunt us.

Visiting social workers had often found the baby with a dirty diaper and a chronic rash, wallowing in her own filth while the grandmother slumbered on the sofa in a drunken haze.

Carla had been determined to finish high school, despite the child, and any difficulties she encountered were swept away. She was single-minded and graduated top of her class. With her grades, a scholarship at the local college was a shoo-in.

In the meantime, Jenny was growing up, mostly alone, and unloved. As she matured, Carla told herself she was becoming a better mother...

She wasn't. As she acquired a better and better financial situation, Carla showered Jenny with anything she wanted, except her time. Soon she hired a live-in nanny who doubled as a caregiver for her ailing mother.

Carla's mother had died when Jenny was thirteen, and that was when the girl started to go wild. Carla was stunned to discover that her daughter was sexually active and on the pill.

The school's guidance counselor had told Carla that she believed that Jenny was desperately looking for love, any kind of love, or its near imitation.

At fourteen, Jenny was dating an older boy, a college boy, and Carla had put her foot down. She threatened to have the boy arrested, and when she came home two days later, Jenny was gone.

Carla's aunt, Megan, tried to give her niece all the comfort she could. Megan was the mother of two children of her own, older than Carla, and a troop of grandchildren in their teens.

"She'll be back," Megan told Carla gently. "She's just rebelling. It will pass." But the proof that it hadn't -- and would never pass -- was right there in front of Carla, in a bassinet and starting to cry.

Carla took the baby inside and called Megan. "Aunt Meg!" she gasped. "I need you..." Carla hung up the phone and looked at the baby. She had no ease with children, she realized.

She barely remembered how to fix a bottle or change a diaper, but since the baby was still crying, Carla picked him up and started rocking him. The baby quietened down and started sucking his fists.

"You're not supposed to put your whole hand in your mouth!" Carla told the baby. "It's rude..." She continued rocking and humming and by the time Megan arrived the boy was asleep.

Megan came with a supply of formula, diapers, and thousands of things Carla hadn't realized babies couldn't do without. "What about Jenny?" Megan asked quietly. "Do you know where she is?"

Carla shook her head unhappily. "No," she said. "One of her friends said she'd ask around and let me know."

The friend kept her word and Carla received a text indicating that Jenny's boyfriend had run out on her. Her daughter was sleeping in an old van in an abandoned lot.

Carla drove to the lot and looked around until she saw an old rusty van, and sitting next to it was Jenny. She looked thin and unhealthy, with dark shadows under her eyes.

"Jenny," Carla said. "Please come home."

"Why should I?" Jenny asked bitterly. "Why do you even ask? You never wanted me!"

Carla took a deep breath. "The truth is," she explained. "When you were born I was too young, much too young. I made a lot of mistakes, but I'm begging you, Jenny... Don't make the same mistakes I made. Come home with me. We will take care of your baby, and we will learn to be good mothers together."

"You don't know anything!" Jenny pointed out.

"That's true," Carla admitted. "But Aunt Meg does, and she's willing to be there for us."

Carla took Jenny home, and with Megan's help, they learned how to become a loving family. As Carla had pointed out, it's never too late to learn to be a good mother.

What can we learn from this story?

• The mistakes of óur past can come back to haunt us. Carla was too young when she had Jenny, and so she wasn't the supportive mom she should have been -- which led to her daughter's mistake.
• Love your children. They are the greatest gift. Carla and Jenny rebuilt their relationship and learned to be loving supportive mothers together.

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If you enjoyed this story, you might like this one about a little boy visiting his grandmother's farm who disrupts the family's Thanksgiving dinner when he decides to run away with the turkey in order to 'save' its life.

This account is inspired by our reader’s story and written by a professional writer. Any resemblance to actual names or locations is purely coincidental. All images are for illustration purposes only. Share your story with us; maybe it will change someone’s life. If you would like to share your story, please send it to info@amomama.com