Some Closure

Michael Alan Goldberg

Last Year I found one of my half siblings thanks to the power of search engines of the web.
I sent him an email, telling him that i was related to him, and that we shared the same biological father.
I then received an auto out of the office reply that included his cell #. and also a read recipt that stated his assistant had received the email.
Just to be safe, I sent a text to his phone saying, that his assistant received an email that i sent him about us being related, and i wanted to make sure he got it. and if he did get it, to text me back the #1 if he wasn't interested, and #2 if he never got it.

The last thing i want to do is impose on anyone.

He sent me a reply saying that he was considering the note and will get back to me.
I replied, " Completely understandable"

This had taken place in Aug 2008.

So as I am driving back home with Jelly in my lap from the recent vet appointment, I get a text from someone in another area code, that i had not programmed any contact info for. saying" I'm in town for business on Monday, If i can arrive on Sunday will you be avail for dinner"?
I have no idea whom it is until i scroll upwards to read the previous messages which was almost a year ago, and realize it's my half brother!

I had gone from a day that i was balling my eyes out through the majority of the day, from anxiety over Jelly's new found heart condition, Which by the turned out to be better than expected.

The thought of finally meeting and being acknowledged by a side of my bio family for the 1st time in 38 years of my life was a little overwhelming and unexpected to say the least.

I responded "YES i can be avail, let me know the details when you get them"

a little back round info here that is crucial to this story.
My mother was a call girl in the 70's before and a little after my birth.
My father was head of the Chinese mafia and a FreeMason.
He was a married family man with 3 legit kids, and strayed a lot.
He never actually recognized me. He knew about me, but never felt the need to take any responsibility, in fact i confronted him when i was 17, he asked me to pay for my own blood test. I refused, and was offended, he had never given me a red cent, and expected me to pay for a paternity test. Granted the FBI was up his ass around the time that i approached him. but still....

After the years passed, all i really wanted to know was if i should be on the look out for any family illnesses on his side, and possibly what was he like, what kind of a man was he. what did i biologically inherit from him, what traits if any?

My brother was finally giving me this opportunity, i almost had not had a chance to brace myself for it.

Saying "Brother" seems so foreign to my mouth. but a word i always wanted to say.
I always wished i had a brother to look out for me, protect me, etc.....

He told me to pick my favorite restaurant or a place I always wanted to go to.
I didn't want to pick an overly extravagant place. I didn't want to give the wrong message.
Perhaps the message that I wanted something or anything. I wasn't looking for finance or an overly chummy relationship.
I had zero expectations.
However i was completely sweaty palm nervous.
Then i think, what was he expecting? what was going through his head?
As a man it's not unusual to find out your father was not faithful.
but i could have been any nut job, he was really taking a risk as well.

I already knew what he looked like from my search last year and a corporate head shot that was posted.
So when he arrived at the restaurant, i knew it was him right away.
He's about 10 years older than me.
He was tall, Asian, well dressed, well educated, successful trial lawyer.
he greeted me with a smile and a hug, and a nice compliment on my appearance.
We sat down, and i told him i was really nervous.
the conversation was almost seamless. it opened with a beginning of sorts, an introduction, that was mostly about our parents to the current on goings to just about getting to know each other a little.
I learned that his children were never really deprived from the luxuries in life other than a fathers attention. He was a provider, but really never there to nurture them. And that he is alive and well and healthy. No illnesses to date.
the one thing my brother and i have in common aside from our father is our love of food and travel.

We left it casual, we know how to contact each other in the future, and will prob keep loose contact over the web.

I'm actually still digesting the whole experience.
My life is very rarely boring, and always full of surprises.