Monday, July 22, 2013

It's A Boy!!!


Me and my brother Kevin (on the left) meeting our brother Jason for the first time July 21, 2013.  He was a good sport and even held this "It's a Boy" balloon for some pics!  Yeah, we're goofy like that!


I'm shifting gears a little bit tonight.  There will be plenty of time to say all the things I want to say about the road that led me to wanting a healthier me.  (And lucky you!  Less than a year of my life to go!)  For tonight though,  there is something else I really need to focus on and talk about briefly.  I confess it's a ridiculous hour, but sometimes your mind runs faster than you can keep up with. Tonight is one of those nights for me.  I'm finding it difficult to shut my mind down and drift off to sleep.

Upstairs, sleeping in my daughter's room with his lovely wife, is the brother that, until a few weeks ago, I didn't know existed.  It's really quite amazing when you think about how life can turn on a dime when you least expect it.  That's precisely what happened to me a few weeks ago.  Life turned when I least expected it.  Although wary at first, I must say, all things considered, this turn is one of the best of my life so far.

I never accept friend requests on Facebook from people I don't know.  I have a lot of pictures of my children on Facebook and I share some personal information. I keep all of my information private so it's only viewable by persons I'm friends with on Facebook.  Several weeks ago, I received a friend request from someone I didn't know.  I racked my brain trying to figure out what my connection was with this woman.  I even asked my husband if he knew who she was.  I checked to see if we had any mutual friends on Facebook.  Unable to find any other connection, I made the determination I must somehow know her because of DDP yoga.  I have a page on teamddpyoga.com and had made a few friends I had since become friends with on Facebook.  Generally speaking, if I receive a friend request from someone I don't know, i either delete the request immediately or send the person a message asking the person how I know him/her if I suspect I do and just really don't remember.  For whatever reason, I didn't send this woman a message asking how I knew her.  Instead, I accepted the friend request and planned to later send her a message.  The days somehow slipped by me and the friend request was all but forgotten.

About a week or so later, I received a message from the woman who had sent me the friend request. Her name was Britney and she had contacted me because I was from Tullahoma.  She explained although we didn't know each other and she would understand if I didn't want to help, she wondered if I might perhaps be able to assist her in locating her husband's biological father.  All she knew was my maiden name was Mason and I was from Tullahoma. She hoped, because of this, I might happen to know her son's biological father.  Nothing else in regards to that conversation is important other than to say we soon discovered her husband was my biological brother.  So, at the tender young age of 38, I discovered I had a biological brother I never knew.

As it was then, after meeting my brother today for the first time, my mind is still racing a mile a minute. I couldn't really seem to process anything she was saying then and there is still a lot to process after today. I didn't know what to think then, and I struggle to do the same now.  Truth is, regardless of whether or not I knew what to think, at that moment, I was incapable of putting logical thoughts together.  There were just so many questions and not enough answers.  There still are.

I remember speaking with my brother that night for the first time. I felt so nervous. I worried. Would he like me?  Would he want to talk to me again?  Would the shock be too much for him?  I just didn't know what to expect.  I just knew my heart was aching with sadness for everything I knew I missed.  We talked for over two hours that first night.  There was just so much to say it was hard to know where to begin.  We shared some laughter and we shared some tears.  It's always a strange feeling when you're celebrating and mourning at the same time.  The one thing I knew from that very first conversation was the fact I really wanted to know my brother even more and how blessed I felt he was the one.  After meeting him and his lovely family today, that feeling is all the more stronger.

I was tied up in knots that night before we spoke on the phone the first time.  I wasn't really sure what I would say.  It's really strange since that first call, I've found it rather easy to talk to my brother. The only other time I've had any sort of nervous feeling was waiting for him and his family to arrive today.  It was a good kind of nervous though. Butterflies. That's the best way I can describe it. Just excitement.

Our first night together was better than I could have ever hoped.  With both of my brothers in the house along with my six nieces and nephews, my mother, my husband, and my children, there was a completeness and an easiness I can't explain.  The best part of it all is today was only the first day.  There are going to be so many more laughter and love filled days ahead.  For that I am ever grateful.

I'm really thankful for DDPYoga.  Strange  as it is, were it not for the fact I had recently gotten more active on the DDPYoga pages, I never would have accepted that friend request.  I never would have learned I had a second brother.  A brother who, by the way, also lives a gluten free lifestyle and is anxious to do a DDPYoga workout with me!  Now, if only we can rope the other one in, we will really have something!  So, if you happen to see this DDP, thanks!!!  You are touching people's lives in ways you never could have imagined!!!  

1 comment:

  1. Wow.. This is awesome story.. I am so happy for you all... God bless your family... xo

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