When I was six, my dad left. Just… disappeared. My mom told me he’d abandoned us. I grew up thinking he was a selfish man who didn’t care.
At 28, I got a message from a woman claiming to be my half-sister. I ignored it at first — scam, I thought. But she was persistent and sent undeniable proof: photos, family tree data, even letters he wrote about me. My dad hadn’t abandoned us. He’d been kicked out.
My grandparents disapproved of him. My mom had postpartum depression, and their marriage was rocky. She went to stay with her parents for a “break” and never let him see me again. He fought in court but lost. He wrote me letters he was never allowed to send.
He’s alive. He lives in Oregon. We spoke on the phone last month. He cried. I cried.
My mother passed five years ago, so I’ll never know her side fully. But I know this: the story I was told my whole life was only part of the truth.
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