One of the biggest stories in our lives is that Brian has been reunited with his birth father, after about 25 years. Without going into detail, they were unable to get together most of Brian's life. After Brian and I got married, we would periodically try to find Roy, his birth father, but didn't really know where to find him or what would happen if we did. Sometime after Greg passed away, Brian thought it was time to try to find Roy again. So we started with the internet...wow what an amazing thing!!!
So, we looked up his name in the white pages, found a guy with the same name in Ohio, where we knew he was from. We actually called the number...that led to getting phone numbers for 2 sons he had from another marriage. Brian left a message with one of them. Before we heard back from them though, I thought I'd try finding him on facebook.com. We didn't know much about him, and didn't know if he was a facebook kind of guy, but there was a Roy from OH listed. I sent a message to this Roy, to find out if he was the one we were looking for. A day or two later, I received a message from Tony, Roy's stepson, saying, that it was indeed the Roy we were looking for, but Roy didn't really use the facebook site. Tony put us in touch with his mom and Roy!!! This all happened inside of a week!
After a day or two of emailing back and forth with Roy and Jackie, I emailed them our phone numbers for them to get a hold of us at their convenience. The end of that week, while at the pool with my kids, I got a message on my phone from Roy for the first time. Brian was able to talk to him for the first time 2 days later. (He had been working 12 hour shifts and couldn't connect with Roy sooner.) Anyway, they had been actually living in GA for the last 3 years or so, but were moving back up to OH soon. After a few weeks of phone calls and emails, we made a plan to meet!
They happened to be going to be in Harrisburg, PA for a family wedding the weekend of Labor Day. Brian was off, so we drove over to Harrisburg (just under 2 hours away), and met them in their hotel. WOW!!! I was overcome with emotion, partly because, as a parent, I couldn't imagine being separated from my child for so long! And feeling happy for Brian because that part of his background was no longer going to be such a mystery!!
Turns out we met not only Roy and his wife, Jackie, but Jackie's son, Tony and his wife and 4 kids; one of Brian's aunts; and one of Brian's half-brothers, named Aaron and his wife and daughter. He has 2 half brothers, but one of them didn't make it. We met 5 of the 6 cousins that my kids now have on that side. We went swimming in the hotel pool with Tony's family, while visiting with Roy, Jackie and Jane. Then we met up with Aaron and his family to have lunch and then go back to the pool and swim some more. The wedding they were going to wasn't until 4pm or so, so we stayed until about 2:30 or so visiting. It was surprisingly comfortable, everyone made us feel so welcome and part of the family from the get-go. The only regret is that we didn't get together sooner in our lives. The kids are very excited to have more family in their lives. Not that we don't like the ones that we already have, but more is even better!!!! We hope to develop good relationships with them!
Here are some pictures!
Brian and Roy for the first time in 25 years!
This is the kids at lunch making Ohio State and Arizona State signs. Turns out the brothers are all OH ST fans.....something ASU fans don't like. :) But good to know that the brothers are HUGE football fans! Brian alwasy wanted a sibling and would even tell his mom that he'd take a sister! Turns out he has 3 "brothers"! And the have similar interests! What a great thing for Brian! (One of the little girls was actually in the wedding so she was busy getting ready for that and didn't get to go to lunch with us.)
This is the girls with Grandpa Vollmer. Can't say much about this except...wow!
Apparently Grandpa is a BIG hit with grandkids, and he loves them to pieces! Enough to let a turtle sit on his head for a picture! Kobe is behind Roy, Haley in the back, and Keegan next to Roy and Courtney. The kids seemed to hit it off!
Our family and Roy!
This is Jackie, or Grandma J, as she is called by the grandkids!
So that's been a big event in our life! We are trying to figure out a time during the holidays that we can all get together...we hope it works out! But they are going to be part of our lives from here on out and we are thrilled!!!
