Father
2004-02-09, 9:48 a.m.

Well, damn. She did it. My mom, I mean. Just last week I decided that I was just going to get over being mad at my mom. She is who she is and I can�t change that.

So yesterday my sister calls and wants me to change my dinner plans for tonight to see my mom. She knows I won�t do that. My mom �or anyone else for that matter � has to call in advance and make plans with me or run the risk that I�ll be busy. So, Dawn decides to come over last night with my mom and her husband.

To give me photographs of my birth father, my half brothers and half sister. I was in shock. They want to come to my birthday dinner so I told my sister to call and invite them. Looking at these pictures totally freaked me out. They look just like me. One boy, Ben, Jr. is 28. The other two are 16-year-old twins, John and Jamie. John looks amazingly like me. Even his ears are just like mine, which is a weird observation I know but he has short hair and his ears show.

My sister and mom went to Muskegon to try to track him down, which they did and it turns out he lives in Hartford, which is about 40 minutes from Kalamazoo. Yesterday, Dawn went to their house and just announced to his wife that her husband is my father. Probably not the best tactic to use, but it seemed to work. His wife was taken aback at first, but then she got on the phone and rounded up the kids and her husband to tell them the news. Thankfully, they are all excited to meet me. Jamie said she�s always wanted a sister. Of course, I�m old enough to be her mother, but I�m still her sister. How weird is that? I have 2 sisters now and 2 brothers.

I�m not sure how to feel about this. I�m excited and nervous and all manner of other things. I�ll meet them in a week and a half. And in typical Barbara fashion, all I can think of right now is �What am I going to wear?�