To those who wait...

I have some wonderful news! Two days ago, my biological father emailed me to explain that after 24 years of keeping my existence a secret from his other children, he had decided to tell them abou me this Father's Day! What prompted this was the deteriotating health of his wife, who was diagnosed with ALS a little over a year ago. While visisting their recently married daughter (my little sister), in Colorado, she developed a respiratory infection, which can be deadly to people with ALS or other degenerative neuromoter diseases. After several near death experiences, she finally recovered and was discharged from the hospital. My father explained to me that shortly thereafter, he had a moment of epiphany and told his wife, who had encouraged him since my birth to introduce me to his other children, that he was finally ready to do it.

I waited impatiently for Sunday, and went down for my post-church nap with no news. I woke up to a beautiful dinner of salmon, rice and brocolli prepared by my wonderful wife, and a touching Father's day card. After dinner, I checked my email, but still nothing. Then, at about 8:30 pm, I recieved a message via Facebook from my oldest brother, who I have known about and admired for years, saying that he had just been given the news, and wanted to talk to me. I called him, and he was very emotional on the phone. He wanted to see me, and asked if he and his 9 month pregnant wife, could come over as soon as possible. So Shauni and I scampered to clean up the house, and they arrived shortly after 9:00.

The first thing that struck me was how similar in appearance we are: we have the same face, eyebrows, head shape, chin, mannerisms, and he swears that I have the "Family nose," which I don't deny. He is much taller than me, about 6 feet 5 inches compared to my 5 feet 11 inches, but surprisingly I didn't feel dwarfed in his presence. I felt like his brother. It was incredible! His wife is also a very interesting and good person. I am looking forward to knowing them both much better.

He took the opportunity to tell me everything he possibly could in the space of an hour and a half about himself, the family, the meeting where our father broke the news to them, and asked about me and my life history. He talked about politics and our family genealogy, and I kept thinking to myself, "I have so much in common with this man! He is certainly my brother!" We had to cut our meeting short because it was getting late, but my father invited us over to dinner tomorrow to meet him, his wife and my sister for the first time, as well as my brother and his wife again. I am very excited! This is unbelievable. I have been truly troubled about what to do for months, no, years to get in touch with this side of my family, and now the wait is over. My prayers have been answered! I am thankful to God tonight for this amazing blessing, and I hope that whatever happens next, I can take it, and make room in my heart for a family I always knew I had, but never had the chance to love, until now.