(no subject)
I've always known that my brother Josh and I had a bunch of half siblings. Four half-sisters and two half-brothers, to be exact. I could even keep up on most of their ages. Misty and Malinda are both in their thirties, but I don't remember which is older. Abbi is 29, Joe is 28, Amanda is 17, and David is 15. I know who their mothers are, and I know who their half siblings are.
But I don't know them. As I've stated before, we grew up having no contact with my dad's side of the family. To know my siblings, then, was just not an option. We tried writing letters and contacting my oldest sisters, but we didn't hear anything back until I was a sophomore in high school. We got a letter from my sister Malinda. From there, we met her and her family a couple of times, talked on the phone, visited... but eventually that flame kind of died out, and I haven't heard from her in years. I tried writing her a letter once, but she had moved and I didn't know where they had gone.
I have always had a very strong desire to know my family. Once in a while I get in frenzies where I do everything I can think of to try to find them. This week has been one of those frenzies. I was browsing Myspace one day and suddenly it clicked: Amanda and David are teenagers... of course they must use Myspace! I looked up David's name and got 25 pages of hits for people named David Todd. I skimmed through them until I found one that matched his age and location, and I tried to message him. Unfortunately, his security settings were so high that I had to be on his friends list to message him, and I had to be able to enter in his last name or email address in order to add him. Obviously, I knew his last name. He and I started talking via Myspace, and I explained to him who I am. (I was afraid that he would blow me off and not be interested.) He told me that we have to hang out, now that he knows I'm his sister. :)
I met him and my sister that evening. David asked me to come over, and I was happy to. They're so excited to have a big sister, and I'm so excited to be that big sister. They've made various comments about me being their big sis, and it makes me so happy inside.
David loves video games and his iguana, Kyla. He likes Michigan football (which could be a problem because my brother Josh is a die-hard OSU fan) and is saving sex for marriage (David FTW!). When he gets angry, he tends to bottle those emotions up inside until they virtually explode. He has Todd eyes and hair, but he actually looks a lot less like my dad than I thought he would, considering all the Todd boys look so much alike.
Mandy loves Chinese food, and she's terribly impulsive and spontaneous (like her sister). She, like me, has spent her life knowing she has family out there and wanting to know them. We have the same nose, chin, and bone structure, and we'd have the same hair if she didn't dye hers. She loves cats, but her baby is her ferret. She's quiet and shy until you get to know her (or so I'm told), and then once she's comfortable, she won't shut up. I guess that runs in the family too.
I am so blessed. I thought that finding my cousins a few years ago filled a very large gap in me... but I found out recently that there was room for more to fill it.
But I don't know them. As I've stated before, we grew up having no contact with my dad's side of the family. To know my siblings, then, was just not an option. We tried writing letters and contacting my oldest sisters, but we didn't hear anything back until I was a sophomore in high school. We got a letter from my sister Malinda. From there, we met her and her family a couple of times, talked on the phone, visited... but eventually that flame kind of died out, and I haven't heard from her in years. I tried writing her a letter once, but she had moved and I didn't know where they had gone.
I have always had a very strong desire to know my family. Once in a while I get in frenzies where I do everything I can think of to try to find them. This week has been one of those frenzies. I was browsing Myspace one day and suddenly it clicked: Amanda and David are teenagers... of course they must use Myspace! I looked up David's name and got 25 pages of hits for people named David Todd. I skimmed through them until I found one that matched his age and location, and I tried to message him. Unfortunately, his security settings were so high that I had to be on his friends list to message him, and I had to be able to enter in his last name or email address in order to add him. Obviously, I knew his last name. He and I started talking via Myspace, and I explained to him who I am. (I was afraid that he would blow me off and not be interested.) He told me that we have to hang out, now that he knows I'm his sister. :)
I met him and my sister that evening. David asked me to come over, and I was happy to. They're so excited to have a big sister, and I'm so excited to be that big sister. They've made various comments about me being their big sis, and it makes me so happy inside.
David loves video games and his iguana, Kyla. He likes Michigan football (which could be a problem because my brother Josh is a die-hard OSU fan) and is saving sex for marriage (David FTW!). When he gets angry, he tends to bottle those emotions up inside until they virtually explode. He has Todd eyes and hair, but he actually looks a lot less like my dad than I thought he would, considering all the Todd boys look so much alike.
Mandy loves Chinese food, and she's terribly impulsive and spontaneous (like her sister). She, like me, has spent her life knowing she has family out there and wanting to know them. We have the same nose, chin, and bone structure, and we'd have the same hair if she didn't dye hers. She loves cats, but her baby is her ferret. She's quiet and shy until you get to know her (or so I'm told), and then once she's comfortable, she won't shut up. I guess that runs in the family too.
I am so blessed. I thought that finding my cousins a few years ago filled a very large gap in me... but I found out recently that there was room for more to fill it.