conversations.from: human
conversations.value: the first paragraph for a book with the title 'Before and After'
conversations.from: assistant
conversations.value: Before and After
  Eleven months later, her adoptive father dies. "I had no real living relatives that I knew of," she says. With no place else to go, she stays with her stepmother, a far from ideal situation. "Those were tough years," Janie confides. "You always feel like you have a hole in your heart...You don't look like anyone else." Yet another impact on her life: "I would never date a boy who was adopted. I was afraid he might be my brother."
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: three more paragraphs
conversations.from: assistant
conversations.value: In the news, Stanley hears about a serial killer identified by DNA on the West Coast. His hopes are renewed. DNA provides a new avenue that could lead him to his brother. His sister submits her DNA to a national database, and he studies her results, which include relatives they know, and this gives Stanley confidence in the test's accuracy. It also names cousins known and unknown. The test does not, however, give them their brother. Another hope ends in a dead end.
  The telling of the story in the novel stirs within him some measure of optimism. He visits Lisa's website and sees that she will be in a small town less than an hour from his home as part of her All Arkansas tour. He gets into his car and drives over before he can talk himself out of it.
  He is reluctant. "I've heard about it," he says. "I emailed a lady...but that's just for TCHS adoptees and their families."
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: the last four paragraphs
conversations.from: assistant
conversations.value: Perhaps other adoptees and their families will come back, too. "I would like to see it become an annual meeting," Kate says. "I just hope this continues and that it develops into something that brings closure to people before they pass away."
  It is not hard to see why these real-life people connected with the fictional Foss family. Fact has indeed met fiction. As I ponder this, I reflect on another quote from the novel that has especially resonated with me since our gathering, this one from the character May as she nears the end of her days: "People don't come into our lives by accident." Lisa and I agree that this seems especially true when we consider the group of people who traveled to the reunion, the messages they brought, and the stories we all took back home with us. Or adoption laws will be changed in more states to allow families to reconnect. Maybe individual crusaders will step forth to make sure that nothing like this happens again. Perhaps yet another teenager somewhere will send in his DNA sample and find a long-lost relative for a grandparent.
  Maybe after reading these stories, someone out there will choose to become that one person for one person. Change a life. Save a life.
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: Add another sentence about Perhaps.
conversations.from: assistant
conversations.value: Perhaps other adoptees and their families will come back, too. "I would like to see it become an annual meeting," Kate says. "I just hope this continues and that it develops into something that brings closure to people before they pass away. "
  It is not hard to see why these real-life people connected with the fictional Foss family. Fact has indeed met fiction. As I ponder this, I reflect on another quote from the novel that has especially resonated with me since our gathering, this one from the character May as she nears the end of her days: "People don't come into our lives by accident. " Lisa and I agree that this seems especially true when we consider the group of people who traveled to the reunion, the messages they brought, and the stories we all took back home with us. 
  Perhaps somewhere, somehow, siblings will find one another through these and countless other stories. Or adoption laws will be changed in more states to allow families to reconnect. Maybe individual crusaders will step forth to make sure that nothing like this happens again. Perhaps yet another teenager somewhere will send in his DNA sample and find a long-lost relative for a grandparent. 
  Maybe after reading these stories, someone out there will choose to become that one person for one person. Change a life. Save a life.