I arrived right at 4:30 pm and surprisingly I was not the least bit nervous. I sat down next to him and ordered something to drink.I think he was more nervous than I. He began by going back to when they were young. He said he wasn't in love with my Mother and he didn't think she was in love with him. It just happened. When you are that young and you are given an out so to speak you don't think about the future. You think about the here and now.
He has carried with him the guilt all these years. Always wondering what it would have been like to raise a daughter. Never having gotten the opportunity to know me growing up. Having missed out on 41 years of my life and I having missed out on his. But you can't change history. It is what it is and you can only go forward.
Let's see what else did I learn.....
He has 4 brothers and 4 sisters. One of each is deceased. Each died of a different kind of cancer. The brother, Grover died of lung cancer, he worked at Sparrows Point. Cleo his sister died of bone cancer. Cleo his youngest sister is the one he says I resemble the most.
His wife he says will NEVER warm up to me. In 30+ years of marriage she doesn't care for his sisters or nieces either. She doesn't even attend family functions. I can't imagine living with a person like this. But he says when you marry someone, there are things you love about them and thinks you don't like and hopefully the good outweigh the bad. His son Brian is a lot like his wife with respect to not wanting to let other people in. He also said Brian is lazy and thinks everything should be given to him.
So thus far his sister died of bone cancer, his brother of lung cancer and Jake is a diabetic who has had 3 bypass surgeries.
