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4477. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 12/6/2008 1:10:38 AM Last March, a registered letter showed up at my local gallery, addressed to me. My art dealer happened to be in Florida at the time, dealing with an ill parent. A gallery employee signed for the letter and it remained in a pile of unopened mail near his desk.
When my dealer, Kevin, returned, he inadvertently opened the letter, thinking it was for him. When a bunch of photos fell out of the envelope and he realized the photos were of people he didn't recognize, he then looked inside the envelope for something that would explain who the people are--he didn't find one. Kevin looked at the addressee again, realized his mistake, and called me.
He explained what had happened and then tried to describe the people in the photos. I asked him to look inside the envelope again, which he did. With more care this time, he discovered a two-page handwritten letter that had clung to the inside of the manila envelope. I asked him to read it aloud to me.
Kevin began reading and then abruptly stopped--but obviously continued reading to himself. When I asked him why he stopped he said, "I don't know if you would want me to continue with this because it's kind of a bombshell!"
"Well," I said, I don't have anything to hide, go ahead!"
This is the letter he read to me.
4478. arkymalarky - 12/6/2008 1:33:45 AM Bob doesn't hunt, but a friend got a deer shoulder and made a good stew with it. I've had it fried, smoked, as bbq, as chili, and most has been good except one dry, gamy-tasting deer steak. 4479. arkymalarky - 12/6/2008 1:41:29 AM Woah, Wiz. That's amazing. How do you feel about it? Have you done anything yet? It's a lovely family and the little girl is a doll.
I had to read it on Bob's Iphone. 4480. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 12/6/2008 3:39:28 AM It's an amazing story, arky. I called her twenty minutes after finding out she existed and I left a message on her cell. (She later told me that she listened to my message maybe fifty times before she called me back.) Because her letter sat unattended on Kevin's desk for two weeks, Kim thought I was reticent to respond.
All I could do, when I found out, was laugh--a laugh that came out of a feeling that the Universe played an ironic fate-based joke upon me. Not only did I think my genes would never make it into the next millennium, but here I was finding out, in one extraordinary moment, that I was the father of twins and a grandfather to boot. 4481. wonkers2 - 12/6/2008 4:45:21 AM Wow! That's great news, Wiz. Beautiful daughter, granddaughter and son-in-law. I can imagine a little of how you feel after, at my advanced age, the way I felt upon seeing my first grandchild at age two months over Thanksgiving. I assume you will get together with them as soon as practical. 4482. wonkers2 - 12/6/2008 4:47:01 AM Aside from the above. From the looks of the letter she clearly is on the ball and has her act together. Her beautiful handwriting belies her claim not to have inherited your artistic talent. 4483. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 12/6/2008 7:24:54 AM The male in that picture is her twin brother, Tim--not my son-in-law, wonk. Kim is very bright and very sweet, but she has not had it easy. Her brother isn't interested in any kind of relationship with me and I have no idea if that will change.
Kim came (alone) for a visit last Memorial Day and then she came with her husband and daughter for the July 4th weekend. Both visits were astonishing in many ways. We each had a million questions. She originally sent the letter to the gallery, because she didn't know how my wife would react--but my wife was (and is) fine with it. 4484. arkymalarky - 12/6/2008 8:25:40 AM Thank you for sharing such a fascinating personal story with us, Wiz. I hope this is the start of a rewarding new dimension to your life.
4485. arkymalarky - 12/6/2008 8:28:14 AM A band Bro plays in, The Leatherwoods, is supposed to be featured on HGTV Sunday night at 7. 4486. alistairconnor - 12/6/2008 8:43:37 AM As bolts from the blue go, Wiz, that's a pretty damn good one. Congratulations (?!) 4487. wabbit - 12/6/2008 4:52:12 PM WoW, amazing is right! It must be a relief to her not only to finally have found and met you, but to be accepted by you and your wife. I have a cousin who was adopted and finally found her birth mother when she was in her early thirties. Not only her birth mother, but a half sister! She was so happy to finally know her roots and they all get along very well.
Congratulations on your newly extended family! 4488. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 12/6/2008 5:22:49 PM Thanks Alistair and yes, arky, Kim and I have become amazingly close in the last eight months. This was my first email to her.
"Lee," btw, is her birth mother and is two or three years older than me. I dated her when I was sixteen/seventeen. I knew nothing of her pregnancy; she was sent to Florida to have (what they thought was to be) a baby. That's another interesting story.
My maternal grandmother is a twin and I have a male cousin (from my grandmother's twin sister's side of the family) who also has a twin sister.
4489. judithathome - 12/6/2008 5:23:19 PM Wiz, what a fantastic thing! She is beautiful and her daughter is adorable!
I'm so happy for you! 4490. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 12/6/2008 5:30:27 PM Thanks wabb. She was indeed relieved. After giving birth to her daughter, she hired a detective to find out who the birth mother. It took Kim eight years to get my name out of her. Then, all she had to go on was my name and that I was an artist. Hence the letter to my gallery 4491. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 12/6/2008 5:31:15 PM Thanks Judith. 4492. judithathome - 12/6/2008 5:33:55 PM I just posted a pic of my great-granddaughter in Arts and Culture...Wonks' grandbaby is there, too! 4493. judithathome - 12/6/2008 5:34:42 PM Wiz, your story would make an excellent movie.... 4494. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 12/6/2008 5:38:40 PM 
I took this one of Kinley on the July visit.
4495. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 12/6/2008 5:40:17 PM Opps, I had realized the image was so big--sorry! 4496. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 12/6/2008 5:43:04 PM hadn't
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