Ok here’s the scene…. it’s 1.39pm on a dreary Saturday arvo and I’m sitting on the couch upstairs at home looking out into the port waiting in anticipation of my birth family’s arrival at 2pm; when all of a sudden Bailey goes nuts barking the house down and I realise “oh shit…. this is it!” and walk out to the front door to meet my birth mother for the first time ever!

First to come up the stairs was Nick (my cousin) who i’ve met a few times (he’s the genius who created “The Daily Rossco” site) and next in line coming up the stairs was my sister Bianca and we smiled nervously at each other before I gave her a big hug (I could see the nervous 17yr old-ness coming through and her thinking “Ok this is weird, do I hug her or what?” haha) so I made the first move.  Next up the stairs was Debbie… now I’ll never forget this moment – we made eye contact and then hugged for like a whole minute while Debbie cried a wee bit and hugged me even harder.  Kind of a surreal moment but I was expecting that.  Next up the stairs was Debbies sister Viv so I gave her a hug and then everyone was introduced to Mum (whilst she was still holding the growling Bailey in her arms haha) 

Ok so that was the first wave of people haha – the next carload came in the front door up the top and first through the door was Debbie’s brother and we had a bit of a moment where he went on one side of the landing round the stairs that go down to my flat, and i went on the other side haha but we sorted it and met up at the end and hugged.  Next was my other cousin (Nick’s sister) Beki who I hugged and she said “Hi I’m Beki” and I replied “Hi I’m Amanda” (Uh duh I think she kinda new that one haha) and then I was facing my brother Jamie and gave him a big hug – and promptly tried to get round my nervousness and awkwardness at being the centre of attention by saying “Shimmer shimmer who’s next…” haha and last but not least was Debbie’s mother (my Grandmother) who gave me a huge hug and then we all went into the lounge.  I promptly sat down in the first chair I could find and tried to position my legs and hands in a way that weren’t showing how badly I was shaking!  (don’t think I did a very good job of it to be honest!)

At that point Mum disappeared downstairs to find my Dad who was in the garage working on my car – so I was left alone with all these people staring at me haha…. awkwardness!  After a few mins it all became more comfortable and we were chatting, asking questions and sharing photos which made it into a really awesome experience and they ended up staying til just after 4pm.