My father grew up with his dad, mom, younger sister, and his maternal grandparents. The family came to the United States when he was 5 years old. They moved to New Jersey from Montevideo, Uruguay in South America. He went to school not knowing any English and worked harder than the other students in order to keep up with the work. Once he was comfortable and able to speak the language he made many friends. After high school, he went off to college to attend Rutgers University in Newark, New Jersey and graduated with a degree in political science.

Sadly when he was 26 years old, his father passed away from a stroke. He then went to help his mother by working to run the family business. But as of last week, it will be a year since her passing. Now my father runs the shop with the help of my mother. He is a caring individual who goes above and beyond to assist his costumers.

A few weeks ago, my mother received a Facebook message from a woman living in Israel who was trying to reach my father. She claimed to be my father’s older sister. My dad remembered that his father was married once before. He knew he had family in Israel and remembered his mother briefly talking about this woman. I had also received a message from this woman expressing how she would love to speak to my father and create a relationship with the family.

She wrote to me and said,

“When I was in my late 20s I knew that I had a brother and a sister living in the USA. I spend time thinking about getting in contacting, but I decided to wait till I was truly ready to go and find them. When I moved to Israel I spend my time there finding my place and find out myself. I ordered my life together again and I knew that it was time for me to go search for my family. It took some time, but I finally found them and I couldn’t be happier.”

My mother was thrilled and wanted my dad to reach out to her right away. My mother replied with my fathers phone number so she could call and speak to him. They were very nervous to speak to one another for they didn’t know what to expect. She speaks no English so the conversation was mainly in Spanish. The family Facebook friended one another after this encounter. My father also contacted his younger sister and told her about what happened. She called and spoke to her old sister as well.

My father said to me,

“I can’t believe I actually have an older sister. It’s so crazy to think. I mean I’m a 53 year old man who grew up being the older sibling and now I’m the middle child.”