The brothers have a terrible relationship. My father hasn't spoken to his one brother Micheal in over 25 years. The rift runs deep. Something about my father telling Michael who his real father was (Mike thought it was my Dad's father) and in retaliation Mike screwed my Dad out of money.
All this happened a long, long, time ago.
Mike's son and I have talked a few times over the years and I agreed to meet him this past weekend.
I didn't know I would be meeting my Uncle Mike as well.
It was the longest, most emotional 3 hours of my life. We sat around the lving room and told stories about the family and my grandmother. Mike's eyes watered a lot. He misses my dad.
It breaks my heart that my father can't get past all this bullshit. Mike is his brother for god's sake. All this shit went down when they were in their 20's.
But my dad won't budge.
I'm glad I met him. He seems like a nice man. He's gone through 5 years of therapy to help with all the childhood trauma. He treats his wife and son well. And treated me well too.
I think Mike needed to see me. For closure, to air out the dirty secrets. Who knows why. But I think I made peace with the fueding family. I feel good about it.
Here are pictures of our meeting.
My cousin and I...
My Uncle, me, and my Aunt...
See the family resemblance. Creepy.
My dad seems a bit miffed that I met him. He said Mike hurt our family.
But so has my own mother but he tells me all the time I should forgive her.
Hypocrisy at its best!!
I feel really good these days. Church has done me wonders. Not dating anyone has also. I have a clear mind.
Things will all work out. They have to.