Possibilities and Dreams

Travel! I absolutely love to travel... but simply cannot afford to do as much travel as I'd like to do. Paying for medical expenses that have not been covered by insurance has taken most available money for travel.

So I stash bits of money aside in the hopes of travel.

Dreaming for time and ability to go places....

... see different things...

... experience different cultures...

... try exotic foods...

Stashes in hopes, dreaming of possibilities.

Tonight, I found a possibility. It isn't a big deal to most people, but it is to me.

I'm an adopted kid (on the side of the father only) who never cared to meet her birth father. I had a wonderful and loving Daddy who adopted me. He made my world shine with possibilities and love and joy and pride in my accomplishments. I never needed anyone else to fill that "official" role of father... because I had my Daddy.

About the time I turned 40, I ended up in the ER with chest pains. The ER doc actually asked me if I had any relatives who had died young from a heart attack. When I could not answer, she told me that I needed to find out... if at all possible... and SOON.

I had long talks with friends who gave wise counsel. My mother and I talked it over. I prayed a LOT. And then, I wrote to him... my birth father... to get that valued medical information.

I got that valued medical informaion. But I also got a more valuable relationship with my birth father... and his sisters, my aunts... and a new brother and sister... and the various children that each of them had! WOW!

Last year, I got to take a trip and meet my birth father. Since I had never cared to meet him, I was surprised to find it an emotional journey. Silly me. Of course it would be emotional to meet my birth father. I met my brother and sister...and it shocked me to discover that she has my nose. The exact same nose I see in the mirror every single day of my life. On another face... that looks hauntingly like mine...

And now, in the realm of possibilities and dreams... and in just a few weeks, I get to meet my birth father's sisters... my aunts.

One is a little on the hard-core side, married 9 times now, but I hear she has a marshmallow heart. She never treated my mother right, but I will give her a chance all on her own. She may have mellowed with age. I know she has some great stories to tell.

One has been married to a preacher for 55 years... and told me one day that she has prayed for me every single day of my life... even when I didn't know she existed. I get shivers every time I think about this... what an impact on a life when she never knew if she would ever meet me on this earth.

One, the last of the 3 sisters and aunts, shows me exactly how I will look at age 70, 75, 80... apparently I have been the spitting image of her all my life and never knew it. I see pictures of her and wonder at how in the world I can look so much like another person. In my family, I was called the pretty and sweet one. In her family, she was called the pretty and sweet one. I know now that I inherited almost all of my medical issues from her. I know from the medical issues already manifest in my life what may also come to pass for me. Some good, some kind of scary. It's okay. I also inherited a lot of other things and personality traits... and I can hardly stand the wait before meeting her in person.

I looked into these people with the dream of finally having all of the medical information I needed. Instead, I found an additional family... and another saturation of love in my life.

Possibilities and dreams...

Saturations of love...

... and a little travel for fun!