Oh Brother Where Art Thou?

Last night I received a call from a woman who makes a living connecting adopted children to their biological families.  She explained to me that at the age of 21, while still in college, my father got his girlfriend pregnant.  This was back in the 60's when women rarely gave birth out of wedlock and kept the child, so naturally 'Baby A' was given up for adoption.

It took my brain a solid 30 minutes to register what this woman was telling me.

"You mean I really have a brother...from another mother?"

Yes.  I do.

It turns out that my mom was aware that my dad had a random child wandering the Earth- but she had never informed me.  Honestly, she hadn't thought about it once in the last 40+ years, so you can't exactly blame her for withholding information.

A bit of history:  My father was a con man.  No, really.  He made a living (if you call it that) by scamming, stealing, embezzling, lying, cheating...you name it, he likely did it.  The guy was a gifted speaker and was charming as hell, so he could convince you of almost anything.  As a young girl, he often used me in his scams...who can say no to a cute kid?  He died when I was in my teens, which more than likely was a good thing.

I immediately called my sister.

Me: "I'm about to drop a bomb on you."

Her: "Oh God...What?!"

Me: "Dad had a kid, we have a brother."

Her: "That's not a bomb...that was a matter of time."

Yup.  My dad was a man whore.  Which has started a dialogue about how many 'others' there may be...

Alas, last night the woman gave me a phone number to call, and this afternoon I spent 2 hours talking to my big brother.

Wow.  I'm still wrapping my mind around the word 'brother'.

'Baby A' is a total hillbilly, he's an aspiring photographer, and he has many of the same random medical things as my sister and I (similar allergies, etc).  Oh- and he over-shares and never shuts up.  Yup.  He's ours!!!

He is planning a trip to meet us face to face in a few weeks.

And I'm happy because maybe, just maybe, my father finally gave us a gift...instead of a grenade.