Ways of living and traveling.
Some mark on their road map to visit the 50 states that make up the US There are those who dedicate themselves to visiting places where things happened that have forged the history of this country or the world. Others want to enjoy the wonders of the planet (seven and many more), go to music festivals or, if they are fans of long-distance running, they sign up for marathons to jog around the global atlas. Nor should we forget those who put on their caps and go from house to house with friends (or not so much) who have found their livelihood through terrestrial or maritime geography.
In this time of mass tourism, in which the sense of adventure remains in the catalogue, it is about finding a story that allows the traveler to feel different from others, far from the common lane.
The truth is that for these deployments you only need time, money and desire, of the latter more and more due to the increase in inconveniences caused by the growing feeling that you have to go back to work to rest from the holidays.
And into this landscape bursts Dylan Stone-Miller and his totally original excuse in his journeys, unattainable for all, or almost, ordinary humans.
According to the calculations of the Wall Street Journal, whose name already denotes wisdom in indexes and statistics, Stone-Miller has covered some 15,000 kilometers this summer with one goal: to visit some, just some, of his 96 children. She does not rule out that there are more. “I will never know how many children I have,” she confesses, faced with the difficulty at times in keeping track of her contributions.
Let's see who can have a guide like that of this 32-year-old man.
His route through North America, as the Journal rightly points out, is complex, strewn with logistical and emotional difficulties for the children, the families and himself.
Stone-Miller is a prolific sperm donor. His odyssey reflects a long journey that consists of finding out how he can fit into the lives of those boys and girls to whom he gave his seed, but of whom he is not the father. It all started three years ago when he saw a photo of a baby named Harper, who for him had the same blue eyes and blonde hair as her sister. He claims that he cried because he was certain that Harper was the first fruit of his donations. He met her when he was three years old.
He quit his job as a software engineer and dipped into his savings for his mission of trying to connect with as many of his children as possible. His mission itself is an accident arising from the unforeseen union of IVF, the internet, and low-cost DNA testing. These factors have made it possible to find biological fathers that in the past were a secret to sperm banks.
Stone-Miller's Atlanta parents divorced when he was 14 and his sister was 10. At 19, he got the woman he was dating pregnant. Although she initially accepted being a mother, she later changed her mind. Months later, as a psychology student at Georgia State University, he was arrested for consuming alcohol while he was under 21, the legal drinking age in the United States.
His father and mother told him that the lawyer had to be paid. A colleague told him about a sperm bank (Xytex) and he jumped at that opportunity. They paid him $100 per visit. He now maintains that it was more than money that kept him doing this for six years.
Shortly after separating from his wife, in 2020, Stone-Miller received a message. It was signed by Alicia Bowes, one of Harper's two mothers, who had traced him as a donor. She showed her family's gratitude to her. They resided in Canada. He opened Bowes's Instagram and discovered the girl's photo. He asked that woman for help to open a Facebook group with which to find other of her children. About twenty families responded, mostly made up of couples of women or single mothers.
On this summer's trip he has met 14 offspring. In some cases, his obsession led to being told that he was not the father, "and never will be." But he continues.
