Woman Graduates From College Where She Was Abandoned as Baby
In a Twist of Fate, Woman Graduates From the University Where She Was Abandoned as a Baby
Image Source: Facebook user San Francisco State University
Jillian Sobol had just been born in 1984 when her mother wrapped her in wet towels, placed her in a box in a dorm laundry room at San Francisco State University, and walked away. Two students, including one in nursing school, found the baby and took care of her until the paramedics arrived. After an intense search for her biological parents and inquiries from many others who wanted to be her parents, Jillian was adopted by Sam and Helene Sobol.
Jillian graduated from the very school were she was abandoned as a baby on Friday, according to the San Francisco Chronicle; her parents and biological father were in attendance. Years earlier, the 31-year-old had gotten in touch with the former nursing student who had found her, which led her to her father. He had no idea she had ever been born. Back in the '80s, campus police tracked down Jillian's mom, a 19-year-old sophomore, who said she had hidden the pregnancy from Jillian's dad, a sophomore she had met at a party. Jillian's first meeting with her father went well and the two have kept in touch ever since.
Her journey to graduation wasn't an easy one — throughout her life, she suffered from dyslexia and she worked as a housekeeper and a waitress in her 20s. She first enrolled in culinary school at San Francisco City College and eventually entered the hospitality management program at San Francisco State University.
This day will always be the best day of my life, my official adoption <3 Family is everything, and I am truly blessed to be a Sobol <3
Posted by Jill Sobol on Thursday, May 19, 2016
Jillian sent her biological mother a message a couple of years ago but only recently realized her mother had written her back; the letter had been sitting in a hidden Facebook message folder. Jillian hasn't answered yet.
"I do hope in the future we can make contact and I look forward to that, but for now, I've been focused on graduating," she told People, describing the letter as heartfelt.
As for how she ended up graduating from the same university where she had been abandoned: "I knew that I was born there and I didn't want to go there specifically for that reason, but it worked out kind of miraculously," she said.
