It's Never Too Late

I have come to expect curveballs when it comes to my health.  Curveballs in my personal life?  I admit it - I did not see the events of this past week coming.

Most of you are familiar with my general life story, but for those of you lacking in some of the details here is the heavily abridged version:  My mother and biological father (Joe Rosenthal, hereinafter referred to as bio-dad) married at age 18 when she became pregnant with me.  The marriage only lasted a few years (long enough for my sister Bonnie to be born) and they divorced when I was around 4 or so.  The last time I saw my bio-dad was when I was about 6 and I have had no contact with him for the last 52 years.  While I was fortunate to have Ken as my Dad for many years, there was of course always a bit of curiosity about my bio-dad:  Did he re-marry?  Do I have siblings?  Is he alive?

A communication on Messenger last Saturday answered those questions.  It was from Joe Rosenthal Jr., who I soon came to learn is the son of my bio-dad.  He notified me of the death of Joe Sr. in January and gave me a few details of his search to find Bonnie and me.  It is not a message I EVER expected to get and I confess I was quite unsure as to how to respond.  I knew I WOULD respond - I just needed to process and figure out HOW.  It was clear from Joe's message that he had concerns about contacting me, mostly because he'd read my blog, knew my story and had no desire to cause me distress or unleash a burden on me.  But...I have another brother.  How could I not respond?

Since that time, we've exchanged a few messages and emails and spoken on the phone, sharing stories of our past and our present.  He let me know that I also have a sister, Karen (who may or may not be interested in establishing contact with me), some nieces and nephews, and a first cousin (Sherry Lee) he'd recently reconnected with and with whom I'm just starting to get to know as well.  I shared Bonnie's backstory (he knew she'd died) and what little I knew of my bio-dad.  We've compared our lives, our personalities, our interests - not quite fully yet, but in the bits and pieces that brief emails and phone calls will allow.

There is not a lot I feel about my bio-dad.  He's a man I did not know and while I am sorry for Joe and Karen's loss I am relatively neutral with regards to him.  What has struck me the most is how much Bonnie seemed to be like him, at least based on what Joe has told me.  It makes me sad that she is not here - I believe she would have loved knowing she had another brother and sister.

Reactions from family and friends with whom I've shared this information have varied from ecstatic to skeptical to amusing ("Meh - he probably just needs a kidney") and convey an overall wish for this to be a happy thing for me.

I can safely say that it is.  Bottom-line is I LIKE my "brother from another mother."  I want to spend more time getting to know him and his family and vice versa.  I expect that at a certain point in the near future we'll have an opportunity to get together and learn even more about each other.  He seems to want the same thing.  So...moving forward because it's never too late to add good people to your life.

I mean, c'mon...how could I not like a guy who's into Echo and the Bunnymen, one of my favorite 80's new wave bands?

Blessings and Love to All.