Host Rob Prince (00:04)
In this episode of MI Michigan Story, Life in the Great Lakes State.
Judy Herrick (00:08)
We’re gonna the release the child to to me and my husband. And the doc says, by the way, I volunteered on that test. And he says the rabbit died.
Host Rob Prince (00:18)
Judy Herrick gets some of the wildest news you can get just after adopting a baby. Jack smuggles a baby back to Michigan across state lines.
Jack (00:26)
You’re gonna fly back to Michigan with this child, and when you get back, no parties, nothing. It all has to be undergo because you are breaking the law.
Host Rob Prince (00:38)
And Riley Kaplan’s dad won’t give her candy at the grocery store, so she immediately goes for the nuclear option.
Rylee Kaplan (00:44)
I’m screaming yelling, stranger danger help! I need help! I don’t know this guy.
Jack (00:50)
my god. What is your dad doing?
Rylee Kaplan (00:51)
Yeah.
Host Rob Prince (00:54)
My parents, up next on MI Michigan Story, Life in the Great Lakes State, I’m Rob Prince.
There are few honors in this life more incredible and significant than the honor of being a parent. I can remember when my daughter was born in Grand Rapids that I was grateful babies don’t come out calling you daddy right away. They give you a few months to adjust to the idea. It’s been twenty two years now and I’m still adjusting to the idea. I’m not quite sure I’m mature enough to be a parent. In today’s episode we have stories of parents going to incredible lengths to get the honor of having children, and one parent who may have thought it would have been a better idea to just adopt a dog.
Our first story comes from Judy Herrick, who, back in the mid nineteen sixties, was far more successful at becoming a mother than she ever expected to be. She shared this story at our February twentieth, two thousand twenty six Open Mic storytelling event at the Lit in downtown Grand Rapids.
Judy Herrick (02:01)
So I got married at age twenty, and of course I really wanted to have children. So my my husband and I were dedicated to having children. And after three and a half years, nothing happened. So we went to see a specialist and discovered that her chances were very slim. They weren’t impossible, but they were very slim. So we proceeded and decided that we would adopt.
So we had a conversation with the folks in Saginaw. We lived in Freeland, which is east side of the state, north like in the vicinity of Midland, Bay City, and Saginaw. And so we lived on a road, which the north side of that road was owned by Consumers Power. And so it was a beautiful area, and we had like a three acre property and ideal for kids to be running around. So after much discussion, we decided to adopt.
So we went to the agency in Saginaw, and they said, Well, you know, it’s kind of difficult because there aren’t a whole lot of children available, so forth and so on. So we said we’re gonna begin the process. So we get on the road, and it is January following that following year, and we get a call. And now keep in mind we lived, again, like I said, in a large three three acres of property in a dirt road at the very end of a road, and the embankment at the
end of that road went up into up to the expressway. That’ll have meaning in a minute. So we get a call in January and said, We have this child for you and it’s a boy. And we’re so excited about this. So we had talked to the agency and they said, okay, you can have this child. And we actually came in and met the child. I held the child. I knew immediately this was going to be my child. And I said how old was the child? He was just six months old. Wow. Just six months old.
So and we thought that was great. So we prepared and I went out and they said you can have this child and it was gonna be the end of January to have the child. Come get the child. So we’re all prepared and I went out and I got the formula I was supposed to get and I had bought all kinds of baby food and I made the formula because I was certain we were gonna get that child. That night, in fact it was the the day before, it was a huge snowstorm, the largest snowstorm that they’d had in many, many years.
And blocked us in and blocked all the neighbors in. So we had a call and our friend said, That’s okay, because we have a toboggan and what we’re gonna do is we’ll clean you out and get you down to get the child and then we have this toboggan. We’ll stand on the expressway and then we’ll pull the toboggan down with you and the baby and have some
So I thought, well, that’s a heck of a deal. So I called the agency, and the agency, well, I’m sorry, we cannot let you have this child until the road commission guarantees that you have a direct direct line into where you are. I was devastated. Had all the formula in there, all the baby clothes was ready, the room was ready, and we couldn’t get him. Couldn’t get him for two weeks. And finally, even though the neighbors were ready to drag him down from the expressway.
And finally we got this child and brought him home and he’s just adorable, six month old. And and the the people who had watched him during that first six months had not done anything to help him sit up or roll over anything because they wanted my husband and I to have that first experience. So we are just absolutely ecstatic with this child, and he gets sick and he ends up in the hospital.
And he ends up in intensive care and in in lockdown. So the only people who could win was mom and and dad. So we find out that he has a a bacterial disease, but that it was curable. And so what kept him there was like seven days and he kept getting better and better. You know, I’m thinking to myself, Well, shoot, I can’t even create a child with, you know, a starter kit and full set of instructions. And so the doctor said, No, everything is fine.
And so it’s time for us to release this child. So as we’re in there, I’m talking to my doc, and I said, you know, I’ve noticed something isn’t quite right with me. I’m not, I’m just not I’m not feeling as as strong as I was. And he said, Well, we need to get a pregnancy test. And I went, That’s stupid. I’ve just spent three years trying to figure out how to get a child. I remember now Mitch is like six months in a week or something like that, maybe seven months. And
I’m gonna re we’re gonna they’re released the child to to me and my husband. And the doc says, by the way, I followed through on that test. And he says, The rabbit died. And I went, You don’t use rabbits, he said, Well, basically you’re expecting
Jack (06:59)
my
Judy Herrick (07:01)
And I said, Let’s see, I just went through three and a half years. I just got a six month old child. And he said, Well, based upon what you’ve been talking about, that child will be here in September
Host Rob Prince (07:15)
Which is how far how
Judy Herrick (07:17)
This four months.
Host Rob Prince (07:19)
my
Judy Herrick (07:20)
yeah. And so sure enough, in September the child was there. So they are thank God he was six months old because they are thirteen months apart and that saved me. So that’s MI Michigan weather child story.
Host Rob Prince (07:35)
Wow. And how is your son doing now?
Judy Herrick (07:38)
he’s your height. Wow, okay. And he’s fifty nine, gonna be sixty, fifty nine years old and doing fine and we love him to pieces. And it’s funny because he doesn’t wanna have any he doesn’t wanna know anything about his family. I guess he figures that this is family is either good enough or bad enough and doesn’t wanna go and find someone else, so he’s just a delight.
Host Rob Prince (07:59)
Did he ever get his toboggan ride?
Judy Herrick (08:02)
Maybe, but I can certainly not that way.
I had to throw out all the formula because that by the time we had done it was it’s so
Host Rob Prince (08:14)
All right, Judy everyone, thank you so much for that.
Judy Herrick. She shared that story at our February 20th, 2026 Open Mic storytelling event at The Lit in downtown Grand Rapids. This is MI Michigan Story, Life in the Great Lakes State. I’m Rob Prince.
The intense desire to have children can lead some parents to take very drastic measures to fulfill that dream, from extremely costly fertility treatments to complex and heart wrenching international adoptions. There can be a tremendous amount of red tape. But what do you do when the red tape is so thick that you can’t possibly cut through it all? Well, as our next storyteller found out, you can try flying over it. Jack shared this story of an adoption red tape hell he went through in Grand Rapids back in nineteen ninety one.
He told this story at our February twentieth, two thousand twenty six Open Mic storytelling event at the Lit in downtown Grand Rapids. Here’s Jack.
Jack (09:37)
My wife and I were going through a lot of infertility treatments and such and after we got married and we decided to s try the adoption route. And unf you know, one of the things is in this West Michigan community, you have to kind of belong to a religious institution to adopt through Catholic social services. And my wife at was a bit older and just, you know, everybody wants the twenty year old.
be the mom, not the 36-year-old, even though they got a lot of experience. We started doing some exploring of what other options we had, and we got to an attorney down in Toledo. You know, started working with her and we were and I still can’t understand how this ever happens, quite serendipitous. A couple
found out about us and wanted us to adopt the child they were going to have. Being in the nine early nineties, the advent of open adoption started that things aren’t signed sealed and never seen again. And so it was going to be an open adoption. So we started communicating in with them, but they lived in Las Vegas, Nevada. And we lived in the state of Michigan.
Unbeknownst to us how this would work is at that time the adoption laws are very strict. Michigan, no, you can only do it through an agency. Nevada, no, only through an attorney. how is this gonna work? Yeah, and then we get the call and say, Okay, you gotta fly to Vegas. The baby is born. this is end of July. And you’re just going, this is real.
Buying tickets. Is this gonna work? Don’t know. We’re going to Vegas, we’re gambling. Okay, this is the biggest gamble I’ve ever done. Yeah. Forget playing slot. I I don’t gamble. I I figure this was a big enough gamble and my luck worked out. So we hopped in a plane, one way ticket, flew out to Vegas, got there, and went to the hospital.
Met the birth parents and our little guy. And it’s like, okay, what’s next? How are we gonna do this adoption? Well, and we have our little problem here. So what they came up with is our attorney in Ohio knew of other state adoption laws because attorneys do more multi-state adoptions than
Agencies do. And the state of Kansas has very liberal adoption laws.
Host Rob Prince (12:44)
How’s Kansas getting involved in this?
Jack (12:46)
it has nothing to do with Wizard of Oz and Dorothy, so I really don’t know. Kansas. and she knew an attorney in Wichita, Kansas. You five are going to fly from Vegas to Wichita, Kansas, because we have to do the release birth parents have to release the child in a court of law and sign the document, and then we have to s they have to show residency and all this stuff.
And again, liberal laws, you could show residency, I think it was within just a few days in Kansas or something like a week.
Host Rob Prince (13:24)
So you had to move to Kansas? No.
Jack (13:27)
This is the the I didn’t move. I still lived here. All right. Lived in Grand Rapids. And they lived in Vegas. So I flew everybody to Wichita, Kansas. But we flew through Phoenix and we were waiting for a flight.
We were off to a side and couldn’t really hear it. Also I stepped out and it was the last boarding call from the flight from Phoenix to Wichita. And I yelled back. I says, You we have to get going. Gab out of the he was sitting by by by the bar so we can go. I rushed in and the woman the stewardess was closing the door and I stuck my foot. Do that today. I’d be yeah. I’d be I’d be
Host Rob Prince (14:11)
Yeah.
Jack (14:12)
walking.
Then she goes, Sir, I have to close this door. I go, No, you are not closing this door. I need for assurance that we are getting on that plane. Well, I can’t tell you that. I go, then I’m not doing this. She goes, Okay. I she said she promised she would go shut the door. I will go check and I will come back. We got on, thank God.
Host Rob Prince (14:36)
my goodness.
Jack (14:37)
But it was like, yeah, I was to a point, I will do anything.
To get what had to be done. We got to Wichita. The attorney had some place where they set up, we were living in another place, but we did have our little guy with us. And we were in this, you know, a nice little suite, and we were waiting for our directions from the attorney. And it’s like, okay, we asked for the crib. When our son was born, he was only about 18 inches long and six pounds.
We put him in the crib and went, This ain’t gonna work. These cribs are huge. We had brought in some bedding and we put it and he slept in the bottom drawer of the dresser. But it was not he he keeps thinking he gave us a hard time. But no, we’re not closing it. It was sitting on the floor. It was we were not gonna slide him in and he cried. So but that’s where he spent the first weeks of his life because
We went through the proceedings, court proceedings work good. The birth parents flew back. Okay, now we’re in Wichita, Kansas. We gotta get back to Grand Rapids. When you do an adoption off across state lines, you cannot transport an infant across state lines unless it’s yours. Well, the adoption is not final. And it’s called an interstate compact. Our attorney in Kansas, attorney in Ohio, and
the adoption agency back in Michigan are trying to get this work and it wasn’t working. The state of Michigan, because if we had first filed to do the adoption in Nevada and then to Michigan, and then they saw it was Kansas to Michigan, they went, well, that that gave a red flag. And again, you’re violating vers the interstate compact. So here we are stuck in Wichita, Kansas, trying to figure out what to do with a week old baby and trying to get back to Michigan.
So we just took killed time in August in Wichita. They got they it they do have a good zoo, by the way. We saw that. And we just kept waiting and waiting. And finally the attorneys, our agency here, the guy who’s d the director of agency here, what they just said, screw it. What you guys are gonna do, this is what we’re going to do. You’re gonna fly back to Michigan with this child.
And when you get back, no parties, nothing. It all has to be undergo because you are breaking the law.
Host Rob Prince (17:16)
You’re smuggling a baby back to the
Jack (17:18)
Smuggling
a baby across state lives. I don’t is that I don’t know if it’s a misdemeanor or fellas. So okay, I already put a f foot in the door. Now I’m going across state lines with a ch if
Host Rob Prince (17:30)
Multiple federal charges right now. Right. The grand jury is gonna
Jack (17:35)
Well he’s thirty five, go after him. We’re back here and it’s like no baby shower, nothing. And we just have to Because like what’s gonna
Host Rob Prince (17:47)
What’s gonna
happen at the baby shower? Like the feds are gonna come crashing through the windows and grab the baby.
Jack (17:53)
Start
talking and we just went, okay, so we just kept talking with attorneys and such. When is this adoption gonna get finalized? So we were back I’m gonna say like August seventeenth or something like that. We were 20th or something like that. When is it gonna fit finalized? And then all of a sudden, December seventeenth got a a call. We have the paperwork, it’s all final. Gabe is now your child.
The option is complete.
Host Rob Prince (18:27)
Just in time for Christmas. That would have been one weird secretive.
Jack (18:31)
And we just cried. Andrea and I just cried. It was just it was a long dream. going through all the infertility treatments for about three years. And then we called it our li I love Lucy sketch to adopt this child. And it just the hoops and everything. And three and a half years later we adopted another child locally and without a there was a little stress in it, but.
But we said to himself, we will not go through that again to adopt the child. It was just so much stress, so much uncertainty. He’s a great kid. It it teaches you you have to stand up and go for what you want. And that came more from my wife, Andrea, than me. And sometimes you do have to break the law to get what you want. And it’s not that I was hurting anybody.
It was really weird that the institutions of government were preventing what two couples want to happen. And he is still in contact with his birth parents.
Host Rob Prince (19:39)
Wow.
Jack (19:40)
They live in Arkansas now. So okay. Yeah, it’s and that is one thing about open adoption is that they can have contact if they like.
Host Rob Prince (19:52)
Awesome. Thank you so much. That’s an incredible story.
That was Jack. He shared that story at our February 20, 2026 Open Mic storytelling event at the Lit in downtown Grand Rapids. This is MI Michigan story, Life in the Great Lakes State, the My Parents episode. I’m Rob Prince.
Children are a blessing, but I dare you to try telling that to a parent at a grocery store when their kid is having a full-out meltdown. I’ve certainly experienced the parent’s side of that situation, but it seems we so rarely get to hear the kids’ side of the argument in those moments, usually because they won’t stop screaming and throwing their limbs in the air. Well, Riley Kaplan can give us a little glimpse of what was going through her mind years ago when she was the kid in the grocery store having the meltdown.
She shared this story with me in my classroom at Michigan State University on april twenty third, two thousand twenty six. Here’s Riley.
Rylee Kaplan (21:06)
When I was I wanna say six years old. This
Host Rob Prince (21:10)
Where? Where did this happen?
Rylee Kaplan (21:11)
happened in Birmingham, Michigan. Okay. I went with my dad to go pick up some groceries for the family and I hate the grocery store. Despise the grocery store. I always have I hate it. I don’t wanna walk around. I don’t wanna look at the food. I want the food to come to me. I don’t wanna go
Jack (21:25)
Search for it.
Host Rob Prince (21:27)
What year are we talking here?
Rylee Kaplan (21:29)
I’m eighteen, six, so that’s twelve years ago.
Host Rob Prince (21:33)
The twenty tens. Yeah. The twenty tens, you’re at a grocery store with your dad with a bad attitude. Why did you go to the grocery store?
Rylee Kaplan (21:39)
Because he forced me in the car. I got picked up and put in prison.
Jack (21:43)
Ha ha ha ha.
Rylee Kaplan (21:44)
Was not happy about it. Already in a bad mood, right? Okay.
Jack (21:47)
Okay.
Rylee Kaplan (21:48)
Little me was also a diva. Like, if I’m in a bad mood, everyone’s in a bad mood. I was already annoyed because I’d not get the American girl doll I wanted. So I was already Christmas.
Host Rob Prince (21:56)
Wait, was it your birthday or something or
Rylee Kaplan (21:58)
I just wanted a new one. No. And I was just upset. And then I
Host Rob Prince (22:01)
It wasn’t even a holiday in New York.
Rylee Kaplan (22:04)
couldn’t find clothes that matched the other American girl doll I had and I was just already gullah
Host Rob Prince (22:09)
Already had an American Girl Dow and you were mad that you didn’t have another one.
Rylee Kaplan (22:12)
Yeah, well I wanted to get the American Girl Dog’s doll’s dog ’cause it had its own dog and then they said I couldn’t get it. And then I was annoyed and I had a look like me doll and then I couldn’t find an outfit to match me, so I was already just in a pissed off mood going into the grocery store. And so we get in the grocery store. Obviously I’m just gonna sit inside the basket because I’m not walking. Yeah. You couldn’t ask me to do that.
Host Rob Prince (22:37)
Six years old. you’re in okay, the basket. There’s
Rylee Kaplan (22:39)
Well, in like the cart. Like the I you couldn’t no. I was sitting in there. Yep. I was complaining the whole time. Obviously my dad was getting mad at me and I was like, You can’t yell at me like I’m your little princess. What are you trying? What are you doing? And then so we’re walking and then we’re getting to checkout after being there for like a probably two hours of walk. I don’t know. I’m exaggerating. Probably like
Host Rob Prince (23:00)
Felt like it.
Rylee Kaplan (23:00)
it felt like it. I thought I was there for like a whole day. So we get to the checkout, then I look to my left and I see whoppers, like the candy whoppers. I
Love Whoppers.
Host Rob Prince (23:11)
Really?
Rylee Kaplan (23:12)
I love them. I was like, can I get the Whoppers? He was like, No. It’s like why not? He’s like, You’ve been in a you’ve been mean this whole day. I was like, okay, I’ll be nice. Like, I want my Whoppers. He said no. So I took them, threw them in the cart. He took them, took them out of the cart. I grabbed them back, threw them in the cart. He said, No, took them, threw them out. So we’re finished checking out and I’m still complaining, stomping. I was Can I get the Whoppers? He said no.
So I take it upon myself to yell, Stranger, dangerous ghost, Molly.
Jack (23:41)
Yes, you did.
Host Rob Prince (23:42)
You
turned it up to like you went nuclear on your deck.
Rylee Kaplan (23:46)
wanted the whoppers and he said no and I said I warned him something bad was gonna happen if he didn’t get them for me. So I’m screaming, yelling, Stranger Danger help. I need help. I don’t know this guy
Jack (24:01)
And then your dad do
Host Rob Prince (24:02)
Yeah.
Rylee Kaplan (24:05)
So he I think he left the groceries. We already paid. He just this looks bad on his part, right? He picks me up, throws me over his shoulder, and starts running to the car.
Host Rob Prince (24:16)
Only confirming.
Rylee Kaplan (24:18)
Danger, you’re making yourself look worse.
Host Rob Prince (24:21)
There’s pretty much in his defense, there’s pretty much no way to not look guilty when a kid is yelling at
Rylee Kaplan (24:26)
Obviously.
And I so I’m yelling, Stranger Danger, Stranger Danger. And then he throws me in the cart and I roll down the window. Help! I’m being kicked off, help, stranger danger. And he’s like, I swear to God, if you say it one more time. I was like, Get me my whopping mouse. So what does he do? Goes back inside, finds the a big giant like Easter container of Whoppers and brings them back to the car. Wow. And I never yelled Stranger Danger.
Jack (24:55)
And that take forward.
Host Rob Prince (24:57)
What did you say when you finally got him?
Rylee Kaplan (25:00)
I said thank you and I sat down and ate my walk
Host Rob Prince (25:03)
You see how reasonable I could be now?
Jack (25:05)
Yeah.
Rylee Kaplan (25:06)
I
just had one condition. And then we go home and obviously I’m skipping inside. I got my thing of Whoppers. I got my American Girl doll. I’m now having a great day. My mom walks downstairs. My dad’s like, I’m gonna fing kill her. I swear to God, I’m never taking her to the grocery store again. She is your daughter I she’s not my daughter anymore. You can take her. My mom’s like, What is what did what happened? My mom he’s like, I don’t want to talk to you. Like she started yelling, stranger danger and my mom’s like, Well, you didn’t get her the whoppers. I I
Host Rob Prince (25:34)
Your mom took your side.
Rylee Kaplan (25:36)
She did and then she started dying laughing about this. And I’m pretty sure this story gets brought up on a weekly basis Still to this day. Cause they all said I was the most difficult kid to raise because my brother was the simplest, easiest, quiet person, and I wasn’t. So they bring this up and they still like show me videos of like my old temper tantrums of things not getting what I wanted. And they’re like, You were a terrible child.
Host Rob Prince (26:03)
Did you keep your word? Did you never pull the nuclear option again with Stranger Danger?
Rylee Kaplan (26:08)
No, but I pulled other things.
Host Rob Prince (26:10)
Really? Yeah. So you don’t
Rylee Kaplan (26:12)
Yeah.
Host Rob Prince (26:13)
I will never do that specific thing again. Yes. What other things did you pull on them?
Rylee Kaplan (26:18)
Well, I would randomly like be in public and start like play like fart noises on my phone and be like, Ew, mom, that’s Dad, that’s disgusting. You can’t be doing that things. You can’t be doing that in public. And I’d be blasting and people would be looking over at that. Or I would just be screaming, like when I I was I thought I was funny when I was in your I like I would be walking around the grocery store, somebody I’m like, Dad, you need any more adult diapers?
They hated taking me out places, so I would always start a scene. And I would run away and hide and I would start stealing things. Wow. Because they wouldn’t buy it for me. So I’d just take it and walk and then they would have to go it would the things would go off. So they would have to go back and buy it for me.
Host Rob Prince (26:58)
my goodness. Have you gotten this out of your system now?
Rylee Kaplan (27:03)
Yeah, I think yeah.
Host Rob Prince (27:04)
Yeah, are you just an angel now?
Rylee Kaplan (27:06)
Of course. I’ve always been
Jack (27:07)
Always.
Host Rob Prince (27:09)
Yeah.
Rylee Kaplan (27:10)
Yeah, I’m not like that anymore. I grew up ish.
Host Rob Prince (27:16)
Riley, thank you so very much for that. Riley Kaplan, she shared that story with me in my classroom at Michigan State University on April twenty-third, two thousand twenty-six.
Thanks so much for listening to this edition of MI Michigan Story, Life in the Great Lakes State, the MyParents episode. Today’s episode was produced and edited by myself, Rob Prince. Our associate producer is Mary Beth Lee. MI Michigan Story is presented by WKR in East Lansing, Michigan. Remember, I can’t make MI Michigan Story without your Michigan story. So get me your story today at MI MichiganStory.com. That’s MIMichiganStory.com.
And thanks.