I haven’t always had the best relationship with my grandma on my mom's side of the family. She was in and out my of life when I was young, and as I got older, she stopped calling, and it probably has been about three years since I talked to her last. A lot has happened in my life in these three years. I moved schools halfway through my sophomore year of high school, I joined a new dance team, battled a horrible illness that put me on life support, graduated high school and am almost done with my freshman year of college. While I was sick, I begged my mom to not call my grandmother because I felt that there was no need, if she wanted to be in my life she could have made that effort long ago.
Everyone always pictures their whole family screaming your name as you walk across the stage and accept your high school diploma. I had my family there minus my grandma and some others. Those other people were a whole side of my family I never knew I had. Soon after I was home from the hospital in 2014, I found out that my mom has a sister and a brother, so basically my aunt and uncle. They all share the same mom (my grandma), but all have different fathers. After my mom did some investigating with her family, nobody on my grandmother’s side of the family had any idea that she gave two children up for adoption.
At first I was in a little shock...okay a lot of shock. Anyone in that situation would be; you have gone your whole life without cousins at Thanksgiving dinner or family parties and then one day, after 18 years here, they are. Once I got over the initial shock of it all, I realized how excited I was that I had this whole other part of my family to hang out with and new relationships to form. Little did I know how small this world really is.
After talking with my aunt about where she grew up, she told us about where my uncle grew up; it is only seven houses away from where I have lived my entire life. Little did I know how close I would get to my uncle’s adoptive parents. Since my biological grandmother clearly never had a big role in my life, I found grandparents in them. As time went on and I graduated from high school, it was time for my graduation party. I had yet to meet my uncle, but he flew to Denver just for my party. The first time I met him was when I picked him up at the airport.
I have always been one to say that family is the most important thing to me, but now I realize how important they really are and how I will hold onto them forever. It's been about a year and a half since I met my long lost family, and they are one of the best things to come into my life. To this day, none of us have spoken to my grandmother and we don’t really plan on it; she clearly doesn’t want to be a part of our lives and as long as we have each other, we are happy. As Princess Diana once said, “Family is the most important thing in the world”.
