In July I wrote about a reunion with my half-sister after thirty-nine years apart. We were together for much of my childhood and I always just thought of her as my big sister - didn't even know she was a half-sister for many years - and when I did find out, it changed nothing. Well, she has two daughters and the last time I saw them was the same thirty-nine years ago. There was never an estrangement between me and either my sister or my nieces; the separation was due in part to what was going on in my sister's life at that time and in part to differences and misunderstandings between her and our father. Sadly, my nieces were the innocent victims...missing a whole section of family for so may years.
I found them all thanks to the wonders of social networking - Facebook to be specific. After exploring the site and learning my way around, it ocurred to me I might find some people from my past and started searching. I found my nieces first...and through them, my sister. As we live in different parts of the country, we've been reconnecting via phone, email and Facebook for the last year and a half. Now we are doing face to face reunions...one at a time. The reunion with my sister proved that, though we may have grown into vastly different people, the sibling bond is strong and we picked up right where we left off all those years ago.
Since then, I have had another reunion. I returned only days ago from visiting the older of my two nieces...and meeting her family for the first time. She was a nine-year-old little girl when we were last together - now she is a beautiful forty-eight year-old woman with a terrific husband, two wonderful boys and an impressive career. My next blog will tell the tale of that visit. I don't know how strong the bond was between a nine-year old child and a twenty-one year old girl, but the women they became are like peas in a pod and their love is strong.
