I spoke to my uncle again last night and I learned SOOOOO much about my family from him that I never knew. He's been tracing the geneology in our family and found out that the Vadakin family (my Mom's maiden name) is originally from Ohio! My grandfather "Bumpy" was raised by his stepmother (actually his aunt) because his mother died giving birth to him and his Dad ended up marrying Bumpy's aunt. My grandfather also had an older brother named John Never knew THAT either!!! I also found out my great-grandfather was deaf and so was a distant cousin (connected with MY hearing problem perhaps??).

He gave me my cousin's (his daughter) phone number and she and I talked for a good hour. She said I had no idea what this meant to her father AND to her and her 3 brothers because they had absolutely NOTHING to remember anyone in the family. Her son is going to West Point in the fall (they live in New Mexico) and I told her I would LOVE to try and get together with her. We're definitely making plans for sometime in the future. I haven't seen her since she and I were 13!!!

Karen,

Look up disfunctional in the dictionary and you'll find my family portrait next to it!!!

It was a real experience last night and I am SOOO glad I did what I did. This weekend my daughter and I are going through the entire 2 boxes of pictures and sort them out. Should be interesting. At least now she'll get to see what my Mom looked like later in her life.