ROFL! I Forgot Something In My Last Post..

Sorry! Sorry, kinda left ya hanging there with the first sentence..

Another sibling you say? Why yes!

I always had this deep feeling as though there was someone missing in my family. From an early age I remember this feeling of a family member that wasn't there with us growing up.
I asked my mom if she was going to have another baby. She said no, that my younger sister was her last. I had mixed feelings on that. On the one hand I wanted a little brother to play with, but felt that he already existed somewhere. On the other hand I had a little sister to play with.

Years later, by now I was 18, we were visiting in California when my mother got a call on the phone. She went pale. She started shaking. Dad noticed and had everyone leave the room while she was on the phone. We left promptly and busied ourselves with toys and games.

Now what I recall, from what I was told later, is that this was a call from my eldest brother's wife, looking to find his mom. My mom! My nearest in age brother, two years older, and I are thick as thieves so we were busy with my younger sister playing at the time.

My mom had been married before she met my father, but she was divorced. She had a daughter with him. After the divorce, she sought comfort with a friend and that was not done back then. They did not get married. Things fell apart and she found out that she was pregnant, so she dropped my eldest sister off with relativesfor a short period of time and went off to have the baby and give him up for adoption.

The couple who adopted him had not had any luck conceiving one of their own and decided to adopt. Later on they had luck and he had adopted siblings, or so I've been led to believe. I may have gotten some details wrong, but the overall gist is that I found out that I was right.

My mom was stunned and so scared of what we would think about her that she took another month before calling a family meeting to discuss the situation. We weren't rich, he didn't want money. It wasn't about that. It was him finally knowing where he came from, who his mom was. I never found out who the father was, but it was said to be a friend.

We entered the living room. This was all set up nicely. Some of us were very busy working and had to clear our schedules to attend. Mom sat on the couch with holding my father's hand. She was nervous. I hadn't seen her this nervous since the last time I was in the hospital with pneumonia. We all stood pensively in anticipation of this ground breaking revelation of hers. I was told it was big.

We looked at each other. She cleared her threat and said..nothing. My dad looked at her and started. "As you know, we have something to tell you, now please do not be mad or freak out. It appears that you all have another sibling out there in the world who has been searching for his mother for a couple of decades."

We were floored, but no sooner had he said this than I jumped up in pure joy! "I knew it!" I yelled. "I knew it, I knew it!"

Oh! I was ecstatic! I was in hog Heaven! I'd always had this deep feeling that one of us was missing and now I finally had confirmation of it and the relief washed over me that I could finally put that feeling to rest! I'm still so absolutely overjoyed about it and I most likely will be until the day I die. Suddenly it wasn't just the four of us anymore. One gone to live on her own, one in the Navy, me working hard, my younger sister in school. I was so ecstatic and excited that it really surprised my parents, more so my mom. Dad knew we would be okay with this revelation, but mom wasn't so sure.

She sat there on her freshly reupholstered couch and you could just see the relief wash over her. She had told my dad about this once, early on, before they were married and he subsequently forgot about it. She never said a word about it again. She was so scared! Oh, the things people would say about her. She felt alone. Well, with the huge showing of support we gave her that night she could finally rest peacefully and know that everything would be alright.

Now, I don't like to toot my own horn, but I'll do it this time. Really the whole feeling of the room fell upon me, and upon my ecstatic reaction of pure elation, the rest of the crew fell in step quickly.

Next was the present, the gift, the surprise!
She got finished relating the whole story, or as much as she was comfortable with and she finally said "and he’s going to be calling here in just a moment. Would anyone care to talk with him?"

Well heck I jumped again in joy! It was double awesomeness! Christmas came early that year and we talked and talked for over an hour. Passing the phone from one person to the next. He and I? Two peas in a pod. We look entirely different, but our interests are very similar.
Here's a photo of him with my dad..

Aside from having my own family and kids, this was the best surprise present I'd ever gotten..as an adult.
The feeling of missing a sibling is unlike anything I'd ever felt before. It was eating away at me. So much so that I was finding people to fill that gap. I could finally stop trying to fill that feeling of loss with new people and focus on getting to know my older sibling.

We still get along great even though he is 1600 miles away. We see each other once in a while. We always pick up where we left off. Last time all the siblings were together was when my mother finally passed away. We gathered together for her funeral. The gravity seemed to become stronger as if the planets came closer together when we all got together. He just now sent me a message while I am writing this to you. I'll check it in a moment.

For a decade or so, we all went our separate ways and a few of us had a falling out. It hurt my mom deeply and she asked me to do one thing for her, her dying wish. It was to bring the family back together. Now, it took some doing and time, but I finally brought everyone back into the family fold and we are all on speaking terms once again. I'd be darned if I'd go back on my word to my dying mother. She went home in January of 2015 and my father hung around for us for another year before he joined her. I know they are happy now and she is pleased, it's just a feeling I get from time to time.

Bless you all.
Thank you for reading along.
Much love, light and respect to you and yours,
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