Uncle Michael

Our family has been greatly blessed as of late. My mother was reunited with her long-lost baby brother Michael. My grandma had to give him up for adoption when he was 6 months old and my mom was six (it's a sad, sad story) and Mom thought she'd never see him again. Well, just a few weeks ago Michael decided to try to find his bloodline again and gave his daughter Michelle his adoption papers. Thanks to the miracle we call the internet, she found my mom mere hours later! We've all been in an excited state of shock ever since.


They live in San Diego and drove out to meet us yesterday. When they finally got here, Mom went out to meet her brother and would not let go of him for the longest time.






We finally convinced her to let the poor guy come in out of the heat (and snuck in hugs of our own!), but she wouldn't let go of him inside either. :)

That's his daughter Michelle, the one who found Mom. He has another daughter and a son, but we haven't met them yet. Also, Michelle has three beautiful children who we won't meet until next time. I can't wait to see everybody!

Eventually we migrated to the living room, and spent the next while listening to Mom and Michael tell stories and ask questions of each other.

My sister Wendy and her husband Louie.

This is my favorite picture of Mom and Uncle Michael:



Next, Mom broke out some of her old pictures:

Sitting next to Michelle is Michael's girlfriend Pat. Just like Michael and Michelle, Pat is an amazing person and I can see why she and Michael are together. She has eight children, four of whom are adopted and of different ethnic backgrounds. My favorite story that she told us was this one: she had six children, having already adopted two. Then she gets a call from an agency saying two different babies were in need of a home. She didn't just take one, she took them both! She's an angel, I'm telling you.

In the picture above, you can see Michelle is holding one of my favorite pictures of our grandmother. This one:

It turned out to be an emotional experience for Michelle to finally see a picture of her grandmother. She wanted to just look at her all day. It was an incredibly touching moment for me.

Since I love old pictures so much and happen to have a few good ones on my computer, I'm going to share a few. Here's another one of Grandma that I just love:



This is Mom and Michael's oldest brother Gene, who died in the Korean War.

This is the next oldest brother, Freddy:


Sadly, he has had no contact with anyone for over 40 years. We're not even sure if he's still alive. (Update: Mom and Freddie found each other less than a year later! Click here to read the story.)

This is my mom, "back in the day" as her and Michael said. :)

And, thanks to Michelle emailing us some pictures a few weeks ago, I even have some old ones of Michael, the youngest brother:

I love this picture! He's such a cutie!

This is him in the fourth grade.

This fabulous old picture is of his grandparents, my great-grandparents, Wayne and Lucy Hancock. Wayne is Michael's namesake actually. (His name is Michael Wayne.) :)

Next, we took a tour of Mom's house to see some more family history. This is a beautiful picture of grandma that hangs on mother's bedroom wall.

On my mom's dresser is a ceramic box that belonged to Grandma. Inside were several items that were hers as well, including some pieces of jewelry with turqoise in them. Michelle asked "Did Grandma like turqoise?" The answer was "Oh, yes." Wendy asked Michelle, "Do you like turqoise?" Her response was "I do now!" So sweet! So Mom gave her one of Grandma's rings, which Michelle loved very much:

The ring fit perfectly. (Michelle is holding a picture of her Aunt Barbara, my mom, as a little girl):

I just had to get a picture of Michelle wearing her grandmother's ring. Isn't she beautiful?

Of course Michael also received some pieces that belonged to his mother, including a delicate bracelet featuring a turquoise stone. I have no doubt that he will always cherish these.

Next we went into the office, where my mother has a shelf dedicated to their beloved brother Gene. On this shelf is our favorite picture of him in his uniform, the flag that was draped over his coffin, and his purple heart.

We visited for a long while after all this. It was amazing how easily we all got along and how natural it felt to be with them. They are truly wonderful people, and I'm so glad they found us. My cousin Michelle and I really have a lot in common, and I'm excited to get to know her better (I know my sister Wendy's just as excited to get to know her cousin too).

This whole experience has been just incredible. It felt surreal for those few weeks between when Michelle first called my mom to when we finally got to meet them. I kept thinking that once we saw them in person, maybe then it would hit me that the sweet baby I'd always heard about was all grown up and come home to us. But it didn't hit me at first. Not until later did it really register that all this is real.

Now that it's over, I keep thinking about them and reliving all these different moments with them. They're real to me now. They're not just pictures or an idea that comes with the word "family." Now that I've seen them and held them, the amazing circumstances surrounding this reunion has gone away enough for me to feel that deep love for them which binds us as family. How grateful I am to have them in our lives. I look forward to all that lies ahead of us as we continue to meet more family and build more memories. We have a lot of lost time to make up for, but we're off to a good start.