Days of Our Lives

So even if you aren't a soap junkie, you know the concept. People encounter bizarre events everyday that drastically alter their lives. This is my life... these past few months have been the craziest I have ever had. First getting married, then Adam being deployed, getting pregnant, moving home, and now the biggest one yet... let me explain.

Most of you know that I am an only child. Well, that's not entirely true. I found out when I was 16 that I had a half brother... I'll wait as those of you close to me compose yourselves. My dad was married before he married my mom and sadly the divorce was not pretty. My dad's wife wouldn't let him see "Joe" and it absolutely killed him (not sure how my new bro feels about having his life outed on my blog so we'll just call him Joe for now). So that brings us to my dad marrying my mom and fabulous me coming along. I always wanted a brother or sister but my parents never told me about Joe because they thought that telling a child she had a brother but couldn't see him would be too complicated and hurtful. They kept it a secret until I was 16.

I walked in on my mom writing some letters one night and I asked her what she was doing. She covered them all up and said "nothing". Well that was the worst thing she could've done and I began begging her to tell me what she was doing. She finally broke down and told me she was writing to try to find Joe and let out the whole story. I was beyond shocked. I mean you go your whole life thinking your perfect little family is one way, then out of no where you find out something completely different.

After she told me about Joe I immediately began asking how I could find him. She said that they had no idea where he was and that she was sending out some letters to prospective addresses. None of them ever panned out and being 16 I didn't know what else to do. I tried to let it go and move on.

However, just recently, I guess with getting married and the baby and all I started thinking about Joe again. I thought, ya know, everyone is on facebook. I mean, my dad is on facebook. Let's just see what happens when I search for Joe's name. I got over 500 matches back and I went through them all. I found three that looked promising assuming he was still in the southeast. I sent messages to the three of them explaining that I was looking for my brother and I asked if his fathers name was steven. I went to lunch with my cousins and when I got home I had a reply from one of the Joes. It said "yes". He followed by saying "I think we have a lot to talk about". I immediately wrote him a very long message and later that night he called me. We talked for almost 2 hours. He knew nothing about me the whole time he was growing up. Can you imagine his shock?! Surprise facebook friend, I am your long lost, never known about sister!

We had an amazing conversation about what we had been up to for the last 25 years of our lives. My entire family is thrilled that this worked out. I can't even begin to explain this feeling. I can't imagine how my dad must be feeling. He is just so excited to finally be able to explain his side and what happened to Joe.

The best part of all this? I am meeting him TOMORROW!!!! I was terrified that Joe wouldn't want anything to do with us after all this time, but he wants to meet me! He is going to be close by visiting a friend so I am going to drive to meet him for lunch. I am totally nervous. I am scared I won't know what to say. Well, whatever happens, I am so proud to now say that I have a brother (well, a blood one anyway. I totally think of Adam's brother Ryan as my brother too).

I just can't believe all of these things are happening at once. I feel like I am in an episode of Days of Our Lives. I can't wait to fill you all in on how things go tomorrow!!! Keep your fingers crossed!!!