The Kingdom Started Here!: Most of you know...

Most of you know that I was adopted. (NOTE: If you didn't know...well, there is a news flash for you.) I have known for as long as I can remember. I also have known, for almost as long, that I have two older half brothers. In the early '80's, I "found" my birth mother, and have kept in touch over the years, calling, writing, sending photos of the kids, and me. BUT, I still didn't know the rest of the family. Well...I had talked to a sister-in-law about twenty five years ago. Then the oldest half brother in the last few years. He never knew about me, and wasn't sure how to take it. I could understand his feelings about it I had known forever, and he had not. He didn't understand the secrecy, and why no one ever said anything. I had no clue about that.
Last Thursday I got a call from my nieces that my birth mother had died. Would I come to the funeral. I immediately said, "Yes." So, Tuesday after work, I left for California. For days, so many feelings and emotions raced through my mind. I was anxious, nervous, apprehensive, afraid...but I kept driving. I got to the house in the early evening. A nephew, two nieces and a great-nephew were there...and my oldest half brother, Lance. He seemed to have a lot of the same feelings. But, he shook my hand, and then hugged me. And we talked...and talked...and talked...I'm not sure of his feelings, but I felt like I had known him my whole life. AND through our talking, found that our lives had crossed many times over the years.
We went to breakfast the next morning, then I got to go through years of photos...Yes...I look just like my mother. If I had a scanner, I would scan the photo I brought home. More are coming, but copies needed to be made. We all met at "Uncle" Joe's and "Aunt" Frances' house before the funeral. This is where I met my other half brother. When I came in, he too shook my hand and then hugged me. He said he was "glad to meet me" and "hoped we would have a future".
At the cemetery, "Aunt" Frances seemed to look at me a lot. At least every time I looked at her, she was looking at me. I took photos of other family headstones before the service; my half sister, Shelly, who died in 1996, my "Aunt" Corinne, and "Grandma Esther. As the service began, I was doing okay. Then John, Shelly's husband, started to tell about Joanna...when she was born, where, what kind of person she was, her likes, etc. FiNALLY, I knew why I was different, why I am me. I am her. He could have been reading about me. I am just like her. Not just in looks, but in everything else. I asked for a copy of the service, and he gave it to me. I am going to make a scrapbook of her. I met other nephews and another niece. All of them are fun and were very glad to meet me.
Back to Joe and Frances' home for a luncheon after the service. Talking and visiting with the other half brother, Dana. It was wonderful. BUT none of the cousins know who I am, OR Joe and Frances. (Or so we thought.) When everyone got ready to leave, I asked if we could get some photos. I meant just of us, but we got together as a HUGE group. As we were setting up cameras, etc. one woman, Chris (I found out later she is a cousin), looked at me,pointed and asked, "Who are you?" I just replied, "Joleen" and then someone said that we all needed to move closer together and smile. So, that was dropped. We did get several photos, and I will post them.
I talked to one of the nieces yesterday. She said that after I left, Chris told my sister-in-law, "She sure looks a LOT like Lance." To which Janice said, "She sure does" and walked away. BUT while others were in the other room, Frances told Lance and Dana that she knew who I was the minute I started walking up the hill at the cemetery. She is the "confidant" that Joanna had all these years. She is the one who knew everything about me. So, Frances knows and said she would tell her family later.
I finally have the older brothers I always wanted. They have invited me to be a part of their lives. They have taken me in. Life is good. =D