The Reunion

On Monday, March 28, 2005, my Grandma will turn a very spry 83 years young. It seems this year, however, her birthday present came a bit early.

This past Saturday, March 19th, I got a call from my grandma. She asked me if I wanted to come over and meet somebody. I couldn't imagine who, until she told me the story.

Grandma explained that she had gotten a phone call from a guy whose voice didn't seem familiar. He asked a few simple questions...was your maiden name Braun, was your husband's name Laurence?

Yes.

Yes.

Then the line was silent. After a few seconds of silence, grandma heard crying over the phone. The man on the other end said he couldn't believe he had finally found her.

The man was grandma's 76 year-old younger brother.

They hadn't been in contact in 50 years.

50 YEARS!!

He asked if he could come and see her. Of course, she quickly said yes. She assumed her brother was deceased since they hadn't been in contact. But now she knew he was alive, and he was coming to see her.

.....................

"So," Grandma asked me "do you think you could stop by and see him?" Grandma doesn't ask for much, and she really didn't have to ask me to come and see him, I wanted to. For her, for him, for myself AND for the whole family. She went on to conclude that he was asleep, and she wasn't going to tell him anyone was coming, so he would be surprised.

"I'll be there." I replied.

Sunday at 1 pm, I finally meet Grandma's long lost brother. Before I met him, I wondered if it was really her brother, or just someone who was scamming her, or was mistaken. Those thoughts quickly faded when I saw him. There was no doubt he and grandma were related, as they looked strikingly similar.

Almost the whole family was there. All of grandma's kids (except my Aunt Mary Ann, whom we missed very much...wish you could have made it!!), a lot of the grand kids, and some great-grand kids all made appearances while Grandma's brother just sat, teary eyed, holding his face and repeating "I can't believe I'm sitting here, I can't believe this!"

All I could do was smile.

It's really hard to believe that in a family that is as close as ours, there would come such a reunion. But, in true Gillespie fashion, we made it a great one. I hope he knows how much we love grandma...and how, even though most of us had never met him until Saturday, how much we love him, too. He's a part of this family...and what a fine family it is.