April 11, 2012

I was reminded by a dear friend that blogging is a great way to spill the wildly running thoughts in my mind. I can't seem to pinpoint why I get away from it so easily. I'm guessing it's this little thing called Life. I'm working on building a good relationship with Michael, my recently surfaced brother. I'd looked for so many years to find nothing. So many times I wanted to just talk to him. His birthday, 9/11, the day my daughter was born, the breast cancer scare, when my grandparents passed away. My heart ached knowing he was out there, somewhere, but all my search roads lead me back to the same thing... FILE SEALED. Then the blessing of blessings... he contacted our family. Recently, he shared childhood photo albums, stories and laughs with me. Then he presented me with something. I asked what it was... he said... this is the file that was sealed. He handed me to the file to go through as I wished. The notes his eager mother had written, the adoption papers and a sweet, loving, journal kept by his foster mother. I am beyond blessed that these precious items were shared with me. I would have never asked to see them and, further more, would have never expected to see them. I feel this relationship is progressing well. In January, our family suffered a very sudden death. My Uncle Joe passed away in his sleep. His wife had just died a little over two years before him. Their two daughters, Samantha and Sydney are now with their Grandma Parrott. They will be moving to Oaklahoma in the summer. Two days ago Peyton brought a composition book to me. It was a prayer journal I had started in 2009. As I flipped through it, I was quickly reminded how quickly life changes. How quickly everything we knew as "normal" can be changed. The last two weekends I've spent a lot of time with family and old friends in Morgantown. To see children growing up into young adults, to see age taking over my grandmothers face, to see Gary realizing he can't go on, to see great accomplishments for Marcie & Keith, to see my children flying kites with Bub and his family. Time, yes have it. Cherish it.