“Sixty paces away, under a high yellow gazebo with a turquoise cupola, a woman and a thin child lean against a low cinder block wall. Gloria, in a print cotton dress, looking older than I expected, steps away from the wall, seeing us just as I see her. Melissa also moves, but slowly, wearing a frilly, floral pink and blue dress. It seems a size too big and accentuates her skinny arms and legs. She wears scruffy white Reeboks and carries an unopened umbrella which I briefly mistake for a cane. Now, I race-walk, my eyes riveted on Melissa…” (Melissa’s Gift, Chapter 6)
When Olin Dodson received a phone call in the summer of 1990 his life was transformed forever. The stranger on the other end informed him that he was the father of a child he’d never known. Melissa was a charming 11-year old Costa Rican girl. She was bright and fun-loving and afflicted with the incurable disease of cystic fibrosis.
Olin’s memoir of life with-and after-Melissa is entitled “Melissa’s Gift.”
“His tender and compelling story is an inspiring revelation of the power of love” – Robert Wolton, Albuquerque Journal, April 8, 2012
