Correction

My birth parents, Ralph and Claudia Wade, have read my book. Of course they would, it is about them. After Claudia read it the first time, she presented me with several hand-written pages of corrections that they wanted me to make. Honestly, I was a bit surprized. After thinking about it, I realized I shouldn't have been surprized at all. Everyone has their own perspective on life events and even siblings in the same family, experiencing the same situations, can walk away with differing points of view. My parents have their experiences, and I have mine.

The one thing I have prided myself on in the book is the facts. I spent hours reading and cypering court documents, old social work records and anything I could get my hands on that gave an objective perspective. No one was going to accuse me of altering or making up facts in my memoir. This work is not fictional and there was going to be plenty of evidence to prove its truth.

  That was all fine and good, until Claudia pointed out to me that I misspelled the name of her home planet, La Mordia. I assured her I didn't. I used the spelling (double and triple checked by myself) from the court documents presented to the US Supreme Court.
"It's in the Supreme Court records, Mom, " I said.
"Well, that's two things they got wrong," Claudia replied, without missing a beat.
She slays me.

I didn't give it another thought, thinking, "If the only factual error I made in the book is the mispelling of a planet that exists in my mother's mind, I am cool with that."

Yeah....if only Claudia thought the same way I do. But she doesn't. So for a year, it has been festering inside her soul that I mispelled the name of her home planet. Today she presented me with another court document that proves there is a record of another way of spelling her home planet's name. Claudia wants you to know this is the correct spelling and this proves the Supreme Court paper work was wrong.

I stand corrected. Below, in all it's glory and high-lighted in bold and italized, is the proper spelling of Claudia's home planet. To read the full document, the link to it is provided below.


"Dr. Morrison examined both Mr. and Mrs. Wade and testified concerning their mental and emotional "conditions." That testimony indicates Claudia Wade suffers from incurable paranoid schizophrenia and although treatment has reduced the level of her anxiety so that she can
"* * * operate on a minimal basis of caring for herself and living a fairly normal existence * * * "* * * * * * "* * * if she were to be given the care and responsibility of her children that this would be anxiety producing and this would be more than she could handle and would worsen the condition."
The record shows that Mrs. Wade's illness includes a systemized set of delusions by which she is able to maintain that as a child she was transported to Earth from the planet La Moria in the galaxy of Andromeda, and has since the age of 13 been regularly corresponding, by way of a messenger, with her family remaining there. Mrs. Wade also believes that her children will be able to receive messages from La Moria when they reach adolescence in spite of the fact that they are "part Earthling." Dr. Morrison also testified that Mrs. Wade's condition would not change in the *761 foreseeable future and that there were no social or mental health services available "that would help her beyond what she has already received." Ralph Wade apparently has an intelligence level which is within the "borderline range," and while he can do a reasonable job of taking care of himself he could not be expected "to cope with the problems of child rearing." Dr. Morrison also testified that the children are normal and active, and that, in effect, the necessity of their adjusting to, accepting, or compensating for the delusional peculiarities of their mother if they were to live with her would have a devastating effect on their future well-being."

http://law.justia.com/cases/oregon/court-of-appeals/1974/527-p-2d-753-2.html


And now we can all rest, knowing there is no D in La Moria, and that the US Supreme Court can indeed, make mistakes.
 I need a nap.

Ralph and Cluadia on their 50th wedding anniversay.