She Found Her Own Name In A Missing Person’s Ad And Wound Up Getting Reunited With Her Birth Mother
Have you seen the TikTok trend where people respond to a video of a creator saying, “Call me crazy, but I’ve never liked store-bought pesto?” and then continue to tell an actual crazy, intense story?
A viral video made by creator Aiesha Myricks (@aieshamyricks) has been dubbed one of the “best responses” to that pesto video yet, as she tells a fascinating story about the time she found her name in a missing person’s ad.
Aiesha was fostered and eventually adopted by the same family as a baby. She lived happily with her adoptive parents in Queens, New York until she moved out when she was 21. While packing her things, she came across a social security card with her name on it. However, something was off.
“My first name was spelled differently, and the last name was a last name I did not recognize,” says Aiesha.
When she confronted her adoptive mother about the card, her mom said it was an old card that she should’ve thrown away because it had a typo on it.
However, she never forgot about that social security card.
A year and a half later, she worked a retail job in Brooklyn, New York, and was pregnant with her daughter.
“I became really curious about my identity because what [was] I gonna tell this little baby that I’m having about our history [and] where we’re from?” says Aiesha.
“I know I’m from New York, but I don’t know anything else.”
ARUTA Images – stock.adobe.com – illustrative purposes only, not the actual person
So, around 14 years ago, while she was finishing up a closing shift at her retail shop, Aiesha decided to Google her name. The first result that popped up was a missing person’s ad with her name at the top.
The ad had been part of a forum for missing children in New York that had been posted around 1997, and it was posted by someone named Chante.
“They had very specific details about the hospital I was born in, the time that I was born, and specific details about an address that I [had] lived in very briefly,” explains Aiesha.
“So I knew this person knew me, and I knew the name was [mine].”
Aiesha became very emotional and processed everything as she prepared to close the store. Then, just before heading out, she emailed Chante and gave him her phone number.
No more than six or seven minutes later, Aiesha got an email from Chante, telling her he was her brother and that he’d been looking for her since she was born.
Aiesha recalls jumping for joy upon discovering she had a brother, and a few moments later, she got a call.
On the other line was a woman who told Aiesha that she was her birth mother and that she had also been looking for her.
Days later, Aiesha was able to meet her birth mother, ask her all kinds of questions, and meet her siblings. She learned more about how her mother decided to give her up for adoption because, at the time, she struggled with addiction and was in trouble with the law.
In terms of the social security card, when she was born, her mother had been using a series of identities during her struggles, and the last name on the card was one of the fraudulent last names she used.
Despite the past, Aiesha continued to connect with her birth mother for a little over a year after they met until she passed away. Aiesha is still in contact with her biological siblings, Chante, her brother, and Thea, her sister.
With a simple Google search, Aiesha’s life was changed. Isn’t that an amazing story?
“I don’t know if it compares to the pesto,” jokes Aiesha at the end of her viral video.
@aieshamyricks #stitch with @Susi the day I found my name in a missing person’s ad I was at work. Life is so crazy ? #pesto #adoption #storytime #NYC
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