Digging Roots

By Kennedy L. Gallimore

I was adopted, and for much of my life I carried two truths: I loved the people who raised me, and I wanted to know more about where I came from.

For years, I didn’t always know how to explain that. How do you express curiosity about your biological family without making it sound as though the family who raised you wasn’t enough? How do you feel grateful for the love you received while acknowledging questions that love alone cannot answer?

Those questions are part of why I started Digging Roots.

I wanted to help create a place where people touched by adoption could speak honestly, find useful information, and feel less alone—without having to make their experiences fit someone else’s expectations.

The questions I carried

My biological mother named me Joseph. The name I grew up with was Kennedy Gallimore. Both names belong to my story, even though I know far more about the life I lived as Kennedy than the beginning I had as Joseph.

There are parts of my earliest history that remain unknown. I have learned to acknowledge those gaps without filling them with imagined explanations. I cannot know every conversation that took place before my adoption, or what the people involved were thinking and feeling.

But I know what it has been like to wonder.

An ordinary conversation about family resemblance could remind me of the faces I hadn’t seen. A birthday could bring happiness alongside questions about who else might remember that date.

Those feelings did not erase my love for my adoptive family. They existed beside it.

The people who helped me belong

My life has been shaped by people who loved me through their everyday actions.

After my mother died when I was nine, my Auntie May became a central presence in my upbringing. Her care was expressed through the ordinary, repeated work of being there: encouragement, guidance, meals, conversations, and the patience required to help a child grow.

That love remains part of who I am.

As I have explored my biological connections, I have become more certain that one part of my family history does not have to diminish another. The people who gave me life and the people who raised me belong to different, overlapping parts of my story.

I don’t have to choose which connection I am allowed to value.

A new beginning, with questions still open

Discovering biological siblings later in life brought a connection I had wondered about for decades. Seeing photographs and recognizing family resemblances was deeply meaningful.

It was also a beginning. Shared ancestry opened a door; getting to know one another would take time.

That experience reminded me that new information can enrich a life without answering every question. My family became larger in my understanding, while the love and experiences that had already shaped me remained real.

It also helped me recognize something I explore in my memoir, Shift Happens: my worth did not begin when someone answered a question about my origins. I mattered before those answers arrived, and I matter while other questions remain unresolved.

Why Digging Roots matters to me

Writing Shift Happens has asked me to look closely at adoption, love, loss, identity, and the ongoing work of living authentically.

I am still doing that work. I sometimes worry about judgment, rejection, conflict, or hurting someone’s feelings. I try to slow down, listen, and respond honestly with consideration for others. I don’t always get it right.

That is the spirit I want to bring to Digging Roots: a willingness to listen, keep learning, and make room for experiences different from my own.

My story is one adoption story. It cannot represent everyone.

Some people want to search for biological relatives. Others do not. Some feel uncertain. Some celebrate their adoption, some carry significant pain, and many have feelings that change over time.

I want this community to respect those differences.

What I hope we can build together

My hope is for Digging Roots to grow into a global community where adoptees, adoptive parents, birth and first families, and caregivers can access education, discover resources, and find pathways to qualified support.

I want us to make room for different cultures, languages, family structures, and ways of understanding adoption. That will require voices and knowledge beyond my own.

We are beginning with resources, stories, and a commitment to thoughtful connection. There is more to build, and I want that growth to be guided by listening.

You do not have to share private details to belong here. You do not have to search, reunite, forgive, or arrive at a particular conclusion.

You can begin with a question. You can begin by reading quietly. You can take your time.

I started Digging Roots because I know what it is like to wonder where you come from while trying to understand who you are.

My hope is that this becomes a place where we can explore those questions with care—and recognize the value of the lives we are already living.

Welcome to Digging Roots. There is room for your story.

Kennedy L. Gallimore
Founder, Digging Roots · Author of Shift Happens