Lost and found

When I was about six years old, my father deserted my mother, running off with a younger girl and leaving Mom with me and my brother, who was four years younger than me. We didn't get any financial support from my father, who basically vanished off the face of the earth, and my mother couldn't afford to take care of both of the children. My father's mother contacted Mom, said that her son wanted to take my brother, and Mom agreed, because she didn't know what else to do. We never saw my brother, Johnny, again.

When I was 18, after graduating from high school, against my mother's wishes I contacted my paternal grandmother. She wouldn't tell me anything about where my father and brother were, and when she started trash talking about my Mom, I cut off all contact with her.

A few years ago, when I got my first home PC, I started to look up family back in New York and managed to locate my father's brother's ex-wife. She told me that no one knew where my brother was. I did some Internet searches for the last name, because it's a rare one, but never had any luck. I gave up.

Well, on Monday I had an e-mail from one of my relatives, who had tracked me down because Uncle Pete's ex-wife still had my old phone number in the US, and my ex-husband gave Janet my e-mail address. Seems that my Aunt Jean (I have the honor of having Jean as my middle name) passed away a couple of weeks ago, and the estate lawyer wanted the family to locate my brother and me. And Janet has found my brother, too! She said she'll give him my e-mail address - he never knew he had a sister, because my father never told him. So, I'm waiting anxiously to hear from him. I got a baby brother! This time I promise not to try to kill him, as Mom told me I tried when he was small. Me, jealous? Nah.....