This is an I-Heart podcast.

And we return to our American stories.

And up next we have a hometown story, a story from our little town of Oxford, Mississippi,

home to 20,000 people, and Ole Miss, home to SEC sports, folks. And we're about an hour

south, new south of Memphis, Tennessee. This story is told by Eddie Willis, who's a pastor here in

town. Today, he's here to share the story about his adoption

and his decision at the age of 40 to search for his birth parents.

I learned at the earliest age that I was an adopted child. I had a lot of questions for my parents,

and they always answered. They were always open and

honest. This was at a time before adoptions were open where you knew your parents. And that in itself

was much different than today. It was almost like a spy movie. They met some of the social workers in a park and had to bring in a brown paper sack clothing, be very discreet, and they handed me off in a public park in New Orleans. And that's how...

Up until about the age of 40, I had the mindset that this is the way it was, and they set me on this path in the adoption process. And my parents that adopted me were the only parents that I had and needed.

I felt like I was fine, not knowing where I came from.

And so it wasn't until adulthood, marriage, children of my own, that I really started

having those desires.

My wife and I started our family, and then it was during the birth of our first child that

I started having these feelings that I'd never had before, that I'm a parent.

You know, there must be an emotional attachment to me from my birth mom is the way it started out.

And then as a father myself, there must be these feelings from my birth father.

And so all through childhood I was told that I was adopted out of Methodist children's home in New Orleans.

And it's one of the last states that has sealed records that

just will not be opened and ended up at the door of the Office of Records. And a sweet, kind

...