Something to be Thankful For

About this time last year I found my half-sister online via internet searches and ultimately Facebook.  I really didn't know much about her.  She was 2 1/2 years younger than myself and her mother's marriage to our dad lasted about as long as my mother's marriage to him.  I got to meet her, I think, 3 times in my life.  The first time when I was 11 (both times while visiting our grandparents during the summer), then the following summer and then again at our grandmother's funeral, when I was 18.  After the 2nd time I met her, her mother had remarried and moved to Central Canada, where her new husband was from.  My half sister has 2 older sisters, one being my age and one 2 years older.  The one my age and I got to be friends and we kept in touch via letters until we were about 17.  I kept in touch with my father somewhat throughout my early adult years and only knew that my half sister had married in her early 20's and I thought he had said she moved to Eastern Canada.  But I never felt the urge to get in touch with her, maybe because the relationship with my father was always strained due to his alcoholism, with me eventually terminating our relationship almost 20 years ago.

Fast forward to a couple of years ago and I kept thinking about her, wondering what she was like and what her life was like.  I tried to do an online search though google, but I didn't know her married last name.  Nothing came of my search, but it was still in the back of my mind for that year.  After I had been on Facebook for about 6 months, I began to wonder if I could find her online that way, especially since so many women include their maiden name in their listed name.  One name match came up on my search that was from Eastern Canada.  I sent her a message asking if her father was the same and she replied back no, sorry.  I then tried searching her sister's names on Facebook and just missed finding her middle sister (the one I used to correspond with) because she was listed by her full first name, not the shortened version we always had used.  Then for some reason I decided to try googling both her sister's names. I found her middle sister on a website where she had listed her job resume and it included a picture! I was pretty sure it was her. I read her schooling background on the resume and it listed her hometown high school name.  Suddenly, the small town name clicked with me as the address I used to write her letters to.  She had an address and phone number listed but I was still too scared to get a hold of her to ask about my half sister.  I tried searching on Facebook again, this time with the town name and found this middle sister, who as luck would have it, listed her 2 sisters as "Family".  Suddenly, I had my half-sisters last name! I sent her a Facebook message, verifying we had the same father, and that I was looking to re-connect with her.  She replied back that it was her and that she had been looking for me too!  Turns out she didn't live in Eastern Canada, but was still in the same small town in Central Canada where she grew up.

For this past year we have stayed it regular contact via email, chat and telephone.  We are quite a bit alike in a lot of ways and both enjoy many of the same things.  In fact, she named one of her daughter's the same name I named mine! We are hoping to get a chance to meet in person next spring by each driving halfway to meet up.