SPANISH FORT, Ala. — For three short days in September 1964, Sharon Brammer walked the floor of a makeshift nursery at the Salvation Army in Birmingham.

For three days, the 14-year-old girl from Alexander City talked, fed and sang to her newborn daughter, Melissa, knowing the decision she was making would change the course of her life — and hoping it would give the little life in her arms a chance at something better.

“I wanted her to be taken care of, and I could not do that — financially or emotionally,” said Brammer, a year and a half after reuniting with the woman — now Sandra Snow — that child became.

Today, Brammer is a nurse practitioner who runs a homeless clinic in Mobile. She has lived in Spanish Fort for 10 years with her husband of 37 years, Paul, and the couple has one son, 30-year-old Delaney. Mother and daughter speak by phone every day, and Brammer said she’s preparing for Sandra, her husband and two children to arrive on the Eastern Shore the week before Christmas.

Her life today seems worlds away from that frightened teenager, but Brammer said adoption made it possible for two lives to move forward with love and acceptance while remaining inextricably linked.

“At that time, there weren’t a lot of options, and my family wasn’t very financially stable. There are myriad reasons for why all of this happened, but more than 40 years ago it just wasn’t a common thing to have a child out of wedlock and be in the community and maintain respectability,” Brammer said.

The Salvation Army’s facility offered a haven during the final four months of the pregnancy she’d managed to conceal from family friends and classmates until the school year ended.

“I was hardly old enough to understand what was going on, but in order for my parents not to have to suffer for my mistake, I certainly agreed to do what needed to be done. It was lonely, and I was very scared, but it was a chance for me to be taken care of and not be a burden on my parents,” she said.

As she held the child in her arms, however, Brammer said a truth revealed itself: She recognized — and felt — a lyrical quality in her daughter. No surprise really, considering both her birth parents were musical.

“I was allowed to be with her as much as I wanted for those three days, and when I held her in my arms and rocked her, I knew there was something astoundingly musical about her,” Brammer said.

The realization prompted a simple request to the social worker who handled the adoption.

What Brammer said was, “Please just tell them she’s musical,” but that simple message evolved a little before reaching Melissa’s adoptive parents, who named her Sandra.

“Somehow it got translated to her parents to get her music lessons, and now she’s a renowned choral director at Michigan State University,” Brammer said.

“Her parents had no musical ability, but they respected that request from a 14-year-old girl, and it was her salvation,” she said, unabashed pride emanating from her quivering voice.

Brammer, who only met her daughter for the first time on the Fourth of July in 2009, met the couple who nurtured, loved and supported Sandra for nearly 45 years just last weekend.

“It has been an absolute fairy tale, and God has so incredibly blessed me. They were so kind and gracious to me. She is where she is now because of them, and I would never have been able to give her that,” Brammer said.

EDITOR’S NOTE: November is National Adoption Month. This three-part series examines the experiences of one local woman who wondered for 45 years if the decision she made as a child herself resulted in the outcome she intended for her daughter.

Coming in Nov. 24’s edition of The Bulletin: Learn about the day Sharon Brammer received the letter that would change her life.