I thought all my life I was one of five children, Matt, Rick, Caitlyn, me and my twin brother George. That’s how it was for 18 years of my life. Until one call changed all that.
When I was born, I had an older sister who was 14 years old. Her name is Caitlyn. Now I’m 19 and she’s 33 married with two beautiful little girls. She’s always there for me, ever since I was little. Whether it was taking me to see movies when I was younger or letting me rant to her when I needed to. No matter what it was I knew she was there.
One of my favorite memories with my sister was when I was 15. Caitlyn’s first child was born, and I was there. I told my mom that morning my sister went into labor, “I’m not going to school. You can’t make me.” My mom said okay I could stay home and go to the hospital to see my sister. Just a few hours later on March 22, 2016 Charlotte Rooney was born. I stayed in the room with my sister the whole time. After this day the bond I had with my sister got even stronger.
Then in 2018, I get a phone call that would change my family forever. Especially for me and my sister Caitlyn.
I remember the call like it was yesterday. They waited to tell my twin brother George with me. We texted each other trying to figure out what this news my parents had to tell us was.
I was in the Woodcrest residence hall with my friends waiting for a Facetime call from my parents who said they have news. Then my phone rang and I walked to the end of the hallway.
On Facetime, my dad told me and my brother that we have another sister. He told us how she found him.
My dad fathered a child in high school, and she was put up for adoption. Then 37 years later she found my dad. A new Pennsylvania law, effective November 3, 2017, allows adoptees who are at least 18 years of age and with other credentials to request a non-certified copy of their original birth records.
This law does not give the adoptees much. If you’re lucky you’ll get the names and ages of the birth parents, the date and county of the birth of the child and the name given to the child at birth. Even though it wasn’t much, it was enough for her to find my dad. Luckily my dad’s name was on the birth certificate. Often it’s not.
After that call, the first person to call me was my sister Caitlyn. We talked about how crazy it was that we have another sister. Along with how excited and nervous we were to meet her and her family.
Her name is Pam. She is 38, married to Mike with a little boy Nicholas and a little girl Alyssa. Pam is my sister just like Caitlyn. Even if we just met a year ago, we met for a reason and that reason is that we are family.
I remember the first time we met it was a little awkward but yeah that’s not a surprise. Imagine getting a call away at college from your parents telling you that you have another sister after 18 years of your life. We quickly warmed up to each other and after that night Pam and her family became a part of our family.
Looking back a year later from that call I’m so happy that she found us. My whole family is so happy that they are in our lives now. They were like the missing piece to my already big family that just keeps getting bigger.
Now I’m one of six, Matt, Pam, Rick, Caitlyn, me and George. Along with that, I went from having four nieces and two nephews to now having five nieces and three nephews.
She thought she was going to find one person by making that phone call to my dad. But with one of us, you get us all. We made them a part of my family very quickly and I can’t wait to make more memories with them all.
