Blindsided

Well now that I've had at least 24 hours to digest yesterday's news, I am finally able to describe some of the feelings I am experiencing. I want to write them down now while they are still fresh in my mind.

Just a little background so you'll understand this post. My brother and I were adopted by my step-father when I was around 7 years old. At the time my biological father severed his parental rights and we never heard from him again. He only contacted me 1 time in 1977 and that was it. I found out about 10 years ago that he had passed away in 1998.

Yesterday's phone call to my mother from an attorney looking for me and my brother regarding the estate of a grandmother who recently passed and a long lost half sister looking for us -- I must admit really was a BIG surprise.

First of all, it looks like I might finally find some of the answers that I have been looking for now for about 10 years.

I guess the strangest part to me in all of this is the surreal feeling of having potentially another group of siblings. Do they want to meet us? Do they know about us? What can they tell us about what has happened the last 50 years?

It feels strange that I now feel somewhat detached from my REAL family -- like I have something going on that they are not a part of -- but yet they should be because they are my family.

It's hard to put all of this into words, mainly because I never expected to ever hear from that part of my old life. I figured that everyone had moved on just like we had and had their own lives to live.

But now, out of the blue, one phone call is changing all of that.

Where will it lead?

What is going to happen from here?

I don't have the answers, but I have to admit that it really has taken me by huge surprise! Another huge surprise was to find out that we had a grandmother who was still alive. Did she think about us? Did she want a relationship with us?

One thing I know for sure.....this is going to be an interesting journey.