I am 54 years old and today I will meet my sister for the first time. Until last winter, I had no idea she existed. More dramatically, she had no idea *I* existed, having grown up with her biological parents, she, understandably, never gave a thought to even the possibility that there may be unknown siblings running around, but here we are and the day has come!

Now, about this “2 miles apart” thing: unbeknownst to anyone involved at the time, she & I lived literally a few miles from one another while we were little weeble people. For about 4 years, from 1966-1970, when Jamie was a newborn and I was just one year older, we both lived in Hingham, MA. Our families attended the same Catholic Church. Our fathers drank at the same watering hole, what is now The Liberty Grille, in Hingham Harbor. In fact, we think there is a reasonable chance they may have been there at the same time, on more than one occasion and who knows? They may have even spoken, both utterly unaware that one was raising the other one’s child.

The whole thing is really quite mind-blowing.

Today, all our parents are dead, save one, my dad, who will be taking us all out to lunch in, you guessed it, Hingham! We won’t be gathering at the Liberty Grille, but in Hingham none-the-less! I will get to meet my half-sister, Jamie, and my half-brother Michael (another Michael!).

This brings my grand total of siblings to six now: two adopted, and four half-siblings, 2 from my birth mother, and 2 from my birth father. I’m a regular Brady Bunch! LOL.

I’m actually kind of nervous, and not in the way I am usually nervous about social occasions, which is to say dreading them. I’m actually looking forward to it, which is unusual for me, but I’m nervous like a first date nervous! I want very much to make a good impression. Unfortunately for me, when I feel like this, I tend to make an ass out of myself, so I’m going to try to be aware of that and not, for once in my life, make an ass out of myself. That would be refreshing – for all involved, I’m sure.

See, my problem is, I really like Jamie. A lot. She’s been a GAS to talk to and I SERIOUSLY don’t want to screw this up. I’ve never spoken to Michael but he’s a boy and whatever. LOL. We’ll do fine, I’m sure! It’s Jamie I worry about because neither she nor I have ever had a sister! Half or full or adopted or at all! So it’s important to me to not screw this up. Not just for me, but for her. It’s like when you marry and/or have children: it’s not just you anymore. You have someone else’s heart to take care of, and for her sake, if not my own, I want to not f*ck this up. See? I’m doing it again. I’m so worried about f*cking this all up I’m gonna f*ck it all up! LOL. Well, thank GOD I’ll have Michael (my husband!) with me. He’s a very calming influence on me and will help me not go full Thelma & Louise off the cliff.

I hope! LOL.