(Deep breath…..) The girl on the far left of this photo is Lisa. Lisa (Elisabeth) is one of three children from my fathers’ first marriage, all present in this image along with my brother and I. Lisa lives in Half Moon Bay, but I had no idea she did, until last month. The last time I saw her, I was probably 7 or 8 years old, we spent time w/them all in a park and at our house, and I don’t recall at the time knowing or fully understanding who they REALLY were, connection-wise.
Lisa found and reached out to my brother online last month. He drove down from Utah this weekend. We met up today, for the first time in almost 50 years, and Lisa brought with her a scrapbook that, in just a few hours time, has already started to fill in the missing pieces of the puzzle that was my fathers’ life. Pieces I lost access to before I was old enough to have interest In what lay outside of the section that I was a part of. Vast segments have sat unfilled over these past 30 years, since his death at the age of 54, and they have just come into my possession.
I’m in a state of elation, shock, excitement, and overwhelm. I now have access to a sister I knew so little of, and an Aunt my kids will meet very soon. I have access to details and insights through her photos and the details she’s learned through her mother, who’s still alive, and potentially a resource for even more information too. I’m already aware of things today that I never really understood, my entire life. Stories are one thing, photos and mementos make it ‘real’, and human. These pieces are already falling into place and as they do, the story unfolding is deep, dramatic, heartwarming and heartbreaking one all at once.
(Another deep breath….) And I’ve only scratched the surface.
I will be seeing Lisa again soon, meticulously working through this scrapbook, coordinating with David on fleshing out the family tree with images and specifics. We will begin gently filling in the gaps in this puzzle, and once I regain my composure, I’ll be writing about it. Oh, I will most definitely be writing about it.