Chapter two: The Brother I Never Knew

My life changed [for the better?] when I broke up with my ex. I call her my ex, but I wasn't actually married to her. She was my life's companion. At times it seemed like she was my soul mate. I had known her since I was a kid. She was a younger friend of my mom's. They had met when they were both waitressing at a restaurant in Long Beach, California. She was 13 years older than me and married at the time; her second. She had three kids from her first marriage, the father gaining custody upon their divorce. Her second husband was a restaurant worker when they met, here from Mexico illegally to work to support himself and send money back to his parents in Oaxaca. I was just a kid when I first met her. It never would've occurred to me that we would eventually spend 18 years together in an intimate relationship. Our acquaintance would change forever with the arrival of my half brother when I was 18.

My brother was one of two children from my mom's her first marriage. It was a rocky, abusive relationship. When they got divorced he won custody of my brother and sister, then took an air force post overseas to keep my mother from ever seeing them. It was then that our mother met my father, and I was born shortly thereafter. My mom hardly ever talked about her first marriage or her other children but I knew I had a brother and sister. There was always a picture of them kept somewhere in sight in whatever living room of whatever house we'd find ourselves living in. Then, when I was about 12, I went to Washington State [Seattle area] with my mom to be with her mother, who was slowly dying of cancer. It was then that the family arranged a secret meeting between my siblings, our mother, and myself. I had never met them before. It was a short, one day visit, then they were gone; back home to South Dakota to be with their father and stepmother.

Next up: Hello Goodbye/Death in the Family