There are a lot of amazing stories about adoption out there, but this one from author Summer Heacock has a touch of magical realism about it. Heacock has been looking for her adopted family for some time, but the file was sealed indefinitely. Then about two weeks ago, she got a message on Facebook and discovered her dad and siblings. They flew her out to meet them soon after, and that’s where she made some pretty amazing discoveries.
Heacock claims that all her life, people have been mistakenly calling her “Heather.” And if you’re thinking that’s because of her last name, it’s not. Heacock is her husband’s name, which she didn’t take on until relatively recently. She’s been getting the “Heather” treatment her whole life, from friends and co-workers and everybody. Now, after meeting her birth family, she thinks she knows why.
Folks. I am about to share the weirdest tale I’ve ever experienced, even by my high bar of weird.
A weird 37 years in the making.
Buckle up for the STORY TIME OF WHUT
— Summer Heacock (@Fizzygrrl) August 20, 2018
So. Ever since I was a kid, people accidentally call me Heather. It’s been a running joke for years. I even document the occurrences on the #NotHeather tag when I remember to.
It happens at least once a week.
— Summer Heacock (@Fizzygrrl) August 20, 2018
I can’t oversell the Heather thing. Doctors I’ve seen for years will slip and call me Heather. Friends. MY OWN HUSBAND HAS RECENTLY CALLED ME HEATHER.
— Summer Heacock (@Fizzygrrl) August 20, 2018
Often, when kids are put up for adoption, if their parents didn’t name them, they are given a name by the agency caring for them. Heacock says she had always joked that she’d been given the name Heather, and it was radiating out of her and entering people’s brains, or something.
Now, I’m adopted. And before I went to live with my parents and was named Summer, I was in this like, baby-holding home and was given a random name instead of Baby 847.
I always joke the Heathering is the universe’s way of telling me that random name was Heather.
— Summer Heacock (@Fizzygrrl) August 20, 2018
There was obviously a lot of stuff to cover with her bio family when she met them, but eventually it occurred to her to ask what that assigned baby-name was, if they possibly knew:
Our second day together, I was like, “OH HEY DO YOU KNOW THE RANDOM BABY NAME????????”
They knew.
— Summer Heacock (@Fizzygrrl) August 20, 2018
You probably saw this coming, but it’s still pretty unbelievable: it was Heather.
Guys. GUYS.
It. Was. HEATHER.
— Summer Heacock (@Fizzygrrl) August 20, 2018
Me the next ten minutes: pic.twitter.com/qaGNp7uX2k
— Summer Heacock (@Fizzygrrl) August 20, 2018
The family had been looking for Heacock for three years and even hired a private detective. That detective located her original birth certificate, which was different from the one issued to her adoptive parents. It did indeed say “Heather” on it.
For the first 6 weeks of my life, my name was Heather.
And for the next 37 years, people have randomly been calling me Heather. pic.twitter.com/muTuZB2gI0
— Summer Heacock (@Fizzygrrl) August 20, 2018
So. Yeah. Apparently my #NotHeather life should have been #NotHeatherNowButActuallyWasAtOnePointAHeather
The end.
— Summer Heacock (@Fizzygrrl) August 20, 2018
You can, indeed, search Heacock’s old tweets under the hashtag #NotHeather and see all the times she’s complain about this strange coincidence:
The twist is that she was a Heather all along. Also, Summer and Heather are from the same branch of the hippie-preppie name family, anyone could confuse them.