Tuesday, February 20, 2024

Long Lost Family

What if? It's the basis of many stories. We ask. We ponder. We wonder. 

On Tuesdays I throw one out there. What if? It may be speculative. It may stem from something I see. It may be something I pull from the news. 

Make of it what you will. If a for instance is not specified, interpret that instance as you wish. And if the idea turns into a story, I'd appreciate a thank you in the acknowledgements 😉

What if you learned today that you had a sibling you had never heard of before? (I'll specify that they are currently living. This could be a half-sibling. Or not.)

10 comments:

  1. I don't know what that could possibly be like. Interesting food for thought. Best wishes!

    - Darla Sands

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  2. I'm an only child and I've thought about this "what if" - more than once. Let me assume I found out by someone contacting me. I'm still not sure. I think I would be equally excited and apprehensive. What if it was a scammer? What if the person wanted money?

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  3. I have no idea how I'd react! A friend did have that situation after her mother died (her father died years earlier). Turned out an adult friend they used to visit was actually her half-brother. I was disappointed in her, as her only thought was not to contact him in case she had to share the inheritance. She didn't need it for living expenses. She was otherwise an only child.

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  4. I have a friend who recently found siblings she didn’t know about via DNA testing. It was unsettling

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  5. I wouldn't think twice about it. Then again, I don't talk much with my current siblings.

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  6. thecontemplativecat here.. I wonder, I have no idea. I think I would be happy, once this could be confirmed.

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  7. First I'd look them up on social media and check them and their friends out. At this point in life, I'd probably leave it at that.

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  8. Funny…this exactly happened to me. It was 1976, a Sunday, and I was watching Airport. My mom was wondering where my dad was. He was gone for the whole day and he came back with a huge smile. My mom said, “Frank! Where the hell have you been!?” “I went to visit my daughter”. I looked down at myself and wondered what was going on because I was right here. My mom just said…”WHAT?” My dad repeated that he saw his daughter and I must have said something because my mom told me to go and watch the movie. Back in 1946, when my dad came back from war, he met a young woman and…got her pregnant. He asked her to marry him but she said no…she didn’t love him and, in 1947, she gave birth to a daughter and gave her daughter to her mom to take care of while she finished her schooling as a nurse. For the first 2 years, my dad supplied food, clothing and toys to his baby girl. One day, he was bringing chocolate and a big teddy bear and saw the grandmom on her stoop saying that they just took her. My dad said he just dropped the bear and said that the grandmom died 6 months later of a broken heart. Unbeknownst to both, that mother adopted her daughter out. My dad tried to find her but he had no rights and, over the years, he wondered where she was. I. The meantime, he met my mom and had my brother and then me but never told my mom for fear that my mom would leave after finding out he dishonoured a young girl but my mom just hugged him and told him how bad she felt for him. I soon met my half sister, Anne, who was beautiful inside and out. My sister was trying to find her birth mom and did and, as an afterthought, asked about my dad. She thought, wrongly, that my dad didn’t care about her but she found out differently and realized her birth mom was not that caring. My dad met his grandkids who knew him as the candy man and he was reunited with his daughter. She called and asked him…are you Frank Bedesky and did you know so and so and when he said yes, she said, well, I think I’m your daughter and that weekend, they met. My sister is in my life and I am so thankful for that.

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  9. I really don't know what I would do. I'd spend a lot of time looking them up online before I even considered agreeing to meeting someone, though.

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  10. This would undoubtedly be a life-altering revelation.
    I'd feel a mix of excitement and apprehension, but ultimately, I'd be open to exploring the connection.

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I appreciate your comments.

I respond to comments* via email, unless your profile email is not enabled. Then, I'll reply in the comment thread. Eventually. Probably.

*Exception: I do not respond to "what if?" comments, but I do read them all. Those questions are open to your interpretation, and I don't wish to limit your imagination by what I thought the question was supposed to be.