No, I’m not talking about the hit song from the 70s by Peaches and Herb. I’m talking about a family of seven, whose eldest was estranged from his other siblings for almost forty years.
My husband is one of five and smack dab in the middle. Years ago his three sisters and he broke all ties with their older brother. Details are only partially known to me. The point is, the older brother did not communicate with his siblings for a long, long time. Until…
Being pulled into Christianity by me, my husband Bill decided it was time to patch things up between him and his brother. At the same time, he decided it would be nice to get everyone together for a reunion dinner. Very unsure of what the reaction would be, he asked me to reach out to his brother’s daughter with whom I was friends on Facebook. She tested the waters for us. She and I coordinated the first phone call. It must have been a stellar moment when they heard each other’s voices after decades had passed. It was a big deal.
“We’ll make arrangements to come see you soon and maybe get everyone else to join us,” my husband told him. “That would be wonderful,” was his brother’s reply. Bill said goodbye and immediately contacted his sisters. With one exception, they were all willing to take part. The one sister who does not live in Chicago could not get away from work. But she said we could facetime her at the dinner table, allowing her to interact with everyone.
A couple of weeks later Bill went online to book our tickets to Chicago. And then we waited. The second day we were there we went over to his house on our own, for the first meeting. It was pretty emotional, although being men, it wouldn’t have been obvious to an outsider. Two nights later we all arranged to meet at a restaurant at 7:30.
The evening went very well, all things considered. Below are some pictures from the first meeting and then the dinner. My husband is the taller one on the left. Some phone numbers were exchanged and promises to get together at a future date. They said they would come out to California soon to visit us in our home.
The next day we left Chicago feeling like we had truly accomplished something important, something life-changing for all of us. Now, what we all do with that remains to be seen. We took the first step as did everyone involved.
Reunited after all these years. “Reunited and it feels so good. Reunited ’cause we understood.”
Life is short. Don’t let petty differences keep you from fulfilling and mutually beneficial relationships. Relationships that could make your life richer than it already is. God bless.
