Doug Davis is a pitcher for my Arizona Diamondbacks. Earlier this season, he was taken out of the lineup when it was discovered that he had thyroid cancer. After a relatively short period of treatment following successful surgery, he came back to the team. Tonight, he came close to pitching a perfect game. That's a game where no one from the other team ever reaches base, whether by a hit or a walk. Davis was perfect almost through the 7th inning. He had two outs and two strikes on a third batter when it came apart. But he eventually won the game after a miraculous catch in the deep outfield by a rookie, Alex Romero, on a hit that would have tied or won the game. A great night of baseball.
My brother turns 75 tomorrow. I talked to him on the telephone this evening. He says he doesn't think much about this milestone but I think he will spend some sleepless hours tonight. I think it's a pretty big landmark date to have reached. As I told him this evening, only 25 more and you get the big 100. He just chuckled.
A cousin of mine, who is the same advanced age as I am (68), has just learned the name of her true father. Neither her mother, the man who raised her as his daughter, nor her grandmother would ever tell her the man's name. Finally, the husband of a half-sister came to her and revealed the identity. She has now met the half-sister and learned of a now-deceased half-brother. She is very happy to finally learn the identity of her father and of her true family identity. I am happy for her. My brother is not. He thinks she should not have pursued it when she first heard of it. Needless to say, the rest of the family, from what I know, disagree with him. But what can I say. He's always been a strange man. He's my only sibling and I haven't seen him for 20 years. We have very, very little in common.
Strange . . . the patterns life has of working itself out.
Having a somewhat fragmented family myself, with half siblings, I can understand the woman's joy to finally know her family. A shame she never got to meet the brother.
ReplyDeleteGood for her to finally find her family. I have a half-brother out there somewhere that I have never met so in some ways, I can surely identify with her.
ReplyDeleteThat's an intersting story, I can imagine it was difficult for her, and a relief to have the mystery solved.
ReplyDeleteSometimes, though, I think too much importance is placed on biological parenthood, so people feel obliged to seek it out, which can be more distressing than happy. My nephew-in-law in Australia is adopted, and his sister became very obsessed with finding out about their 'real' parents, and informing him all about it and eliciting a reaction, when really he wanted it left alone and to keep the best relationship he could with his adoptive parents. Sometimes it seems as though people who resolutely say they don't want to know about their natural parents are made to feel a bit abnormal.
And I can see why someone who raised another person's child wouldn't necessarily wnat that other person around in their lives. And then there's the question of sperm and egg donors not being allowed to remain anonymous...
I don't know, it's a tangle, but I'm glad it turned out well for your cousin, though it seems sad it took so long.
All of the parties involved in the story are now dead, with the exception of my cousin and her half-sister. Unfortunately, the half-sister is now descending into the mists of Alzheimer's Disease.
ReplyDeleteAs has been noted, it is sad it took so long.