reunited

I'm the oldest of a very close family of 7 children 4 girls and 3 boys . The first 5 of us were born within 4 1/2 years. Yes - my parents had 5 preschoolers at one time.  No twins. Although some of us live in different states, we remain as best friends and feel very blessed to have been raised by our wonderful parents. We were also very blessed not to have had any mental health issues or addiction issues in our immediate family.  Having said that - especially coming from a large family - we were not without problems, however.  One such problem was with the 5th child, my sister. She found herself pregnant. It was devastating, to say the least, not only for her but for our parents. Back then it wasn't as socially acceptable as it is now - not that their decision would have changed anything, if it happened today but it was harder to tell other family members or friends about it back then. The decision, between the 3 of them, was to give the baby up for adoption. It was a very difficult time but my sister never felt it was the wrong decision and I so admire her for her selfless act, especially for a woman so young (a teen).  All I can say is - I'm very glad that she's been very open about her 1st child to her other children because she was recently contacted by the son she gave up. My sister, fortunately, didn't have to deal with telling them about him because they already knew. Anyway, they were reunited!  Now the family feels complete. I cannot wait to meet him! **He shares my oldest son's birthday - 4 years a part!    What is particularly touching is my stoic, black and white, get down to business kind of dad's reaction. He cried at the news. My mom showed very little emotion. The opposite when they had to deal with this situation years ago.  My sister tells me her son has been looking for her for 4 years now.  His adoptive parents are very cool about it. In fact, he thanked my sister for giving him life. He said he was raised by two wonderful parents that loved him very much. My sister isn't surprised. She recalls how wonderful they were back then.   I am in awe of my sister.