Ok, so...
I suck. I seriously, seriously, suck. I said I was going to write more frequently, and look what happened! It's been a whole month! God, that makes me angry! I always say I'm going to get back to writing here and I never make it happen because I'm too freakin' busy to do anything that I really want to do. So I apologize. Seriously. I'm being quite a disappointment.
Anyway, a lot of interesting things have been happening lately, but this is the most important: I've met both of my half brothers. My sister and I are fully biologically related - we have the same parents and we grew up in the same house, pulling each other's hair and fighting about all those things that sisters do. "Stop taking my clothes!" "Stop wearing my make-up!"...and all that good stuff. Our brothers, while born of the same father as us, both have different mothers us. Both of them. Meaning that my Dad knocked up three different ladies ( I know what you are thinking, and I am thinking the same thing...my Dad is a slut). One is older than both of us, and one is within months of my sister...and we did not know either of them growing up, and our Dad had nothing to do with them.
My sister and I have been very blessed throughout our lives - we may not always express it, but we absolutely know that we are. I've never really been without anything. If I wanted to take lessons for something, I could. If I wanted a guitar for Christmas, I got it. And if I needed money for school, or anything really...I got that too. I'm spoiled rotten, and I know it. This is not to say that I don't work hard. I do. I work a full-time job at the same time doing my second full-time degree, and I am regularly picked up for singing engagements these days in the very limited time that I DO have off. In fact, when this Saturday arrives, a day off for me, it will have been 28 days since I last had a day off. Almost a 1 month. But I am lucky, and I know it.
Both of our brothers have had extreme difficulties in their lives. I won't talk about them here because I don't feel that it is my place to publicize their struggles, but I can tell you that they were awful and it's very hard for both my sister and I to accept. Some of those struggles were directly related to the absence of our father, and some were not, but I can tell you that the lack of support, both financially and emotionally, from him certainly didn't help. Though my Mom was often a single parent throughout our childhood (my Dad filtered in and out, bringing hurricane-strength drama with him every time he did), she worked very hard and she, we really, had the undying support of our grandparents...and they are the people that we literally wouldn't have survived without. Our grandfather was an incredibly strong father figure, one that we so badly needed, and now our step-dad is too.
I'm so glad that our brothers have come into our lives, and that we may be able to now offer them some support that they just wasn't there for them before. But I'm also glad because it has allowed me to take a step back and realize just what I've had.
So, I ask you to do the same. If you've had a good life, and your family has her been there for you, supported you, and pushed you to be the very best that you can be...tell them you love them and appreciate everything that they've given you...because there are a lot of people who can't do that.
Reminding us all to share the love,
- Jenn
