 May 7,
1994
May
22, 1994
|
The Younger Brother I began trying to locate my other brother. Within a month-and-a-half I had located him only eleven miles from where I grew up. He owned a restaurant and I just felt like going out for dinner one night... I took Susan, a friend who is an attorney, with me. She had been very helpful in my search in the last few months. She had gone with me to search through state records and had also been at my side when Joyce and I met. I felt she had earned the right to be there. Besides, she was getting free food... It was a rainy night when she and I walked into the restaurant. Only one other couple was in the place. A large man was behind the bar. One look told me that it was him. The courts gave him the name James Michael. He was now going by Joseph Lee. Whatever the name one thing remained true: this was my brother. He spoke and we returned the favor. The one lone waitress told us to just find a seat anywhere and she would be with us in 'just a minute'. Once our order was placed and through some seemingly innocent bantering, I discovered that this waitress was my sister-in-law! At one point, Joey walked across the room to the kitchen. I looked at Susan and said, "I almost feel sorry for him. That poor boy has no idea that his entire life is about to turn upside down!" I wasn't sure how I was going to tell him who I was. I have to admit, though, I do my best work 'off the cuff'. When Kerri, the combination waitress / sister- in-law, returned with our check I asked, "Is it possible to have a private party catered here?" She assured me that it was. I gave her this heart wrenching story on how I was an adoptee and had just met some of my birth family and we were looking for a place to get together. Kerri took the bait and said, "Oh, that's great! You know, my husband is adopted and he's been searching for a couple of years but hasn't had any luck." I looked at Susan and smiled. She returned the favor. I looked back at Kerri and said, "Can you sit down for a minute?" Once seated I said, "Your husband was born on October 16, 1962." Her jaw fell open. "Excuse me?" she asked. She spoke quite well considering her jaw was dangling in the wind. I repeated myself. Then added, "He lacks a week of being a year and nine months younger than me. Like him, I, too, was put up for adoption." She asked, "Are you his brother?" I simply nodded. She jumped up, with both hands on either side of her head, and kept saying, "Holy, shit! Oh! Oh, my God!" Finally she stopped and extended her hand to me and simply said, "Hi, I'm Kerri!" She shook my hand as I laughed then added, "I need a cigarette. I'll be right back. She promptly returned with a pack of cigarettes and a beer. She lit up, took a long puff, then looked at me. "How?" was all she said. I went through the whole story. Finally after about 10 minutes, I asked, "I don't suppose your husband is still here?" She laughed and left to tell him. A few minutes later she returned. I asked, "Is he OK?" She said, "He'll be out in a minute. He's crying right now." When she told him who I was he asked this one question about our birthmother: "Is she still alive?" The same first question I asked of Lucille. His reaction to the response was the same as mine. Well, go figure. We sat and talked for hours. Just after midnight we called Joyce, who knew I was going to see Joey that night. By that time it was technically Sunday, May 8. Mother's Day. |
