We had a pleasant surprise this afternoon while attending open houses for graduation seniors. One of my daughters has a birth sibling graduating from high school this year. Of course, we were invited to the open house. We have maintained contact with him by having periodic visits and phone calls throughout the 11 years since their adoptions. We have done the same with the other four birth siblings as well, although we had more visits when the children were younger. There were six siblings, who were adopted by four separate families. When we arrived at the open house, two older birth sisters greeted us before her brother did. Lyn was very excited by this unexpected sibling reunion. Rarely do four or more of the children get together at the same time, now that most are teenagers.

Teenagers are so busy with school activities and friends. They still love their siblings, but during those years, friends take precedence. We watched the same thing happen with our now adult daughters, who had an older sibling that lived with birth family. It hurt the girls’ feelings when their sister quit coming around as often. However, now that she is 27, she comes around all the time, and really enjoys spending time with her nieces. It helps a little to have been through it before; I was able to explain the reasoning to Lyn.

The time together was spent reminiscing about childhood memories together, and catching up on what each had been doing since the last visit. Lyn’s brother had just called last month and chatted with her for an hour. They have always had a special attachment though, and enjoy each other’s company, so they still had a lot to say. However, we hadn’t actually seen her two older sisters in three years. One had gotten into a considerable amount of trouble and wasn’t allowed any privileges. We were so happy to hear that all of that is behind her now. I’ll be writing about her miraculous transformation next week.



Photo Credit: 2008 Julia Fuller.