Like something out of a soap opera, but it actually happened. This morning, we were forwarded a message that came from a guy looking for his father's family. He only had a name on his birth certificate name and some general location knowledge so he had been trying to find something more concrete. He supplied some information about himself, saying he was the son of my deceased Uncle (who passed away in 1996), with his mother's name, birthdate, and some general history. We passed the message around the family and compared notes. After some discussion, we decided this was legit and contacted him. First by phone, but then through a Skype Video chat service. My family (by which I include uncles, aunts, and cousins) chatted with our long-lost cousin for hours. He was on the East coast so time difference was a factor, but still, very cool.
The summary of the situation (to the best of my knowledge) is that my uncle had a son but was not on good terms with the mother. He had some visitation, which is how my uncles and parents knew about their kid. The mother later refused to allow visitation or contact and after an attempted visitation turned dangerous (won't get into the details other than to say major car repairs were needed), all contact was lost. After that, he went through a few moves and his own issues before finding religion, joining the coast Guard, and starting a family. After his mother passed away 6 years ago, he decided to try to track down his father's family. He was very young when everything went down so he really had no memory of us or his dad and his mother apparently refused to tell him anything. This was long before I was born so I really can't comment on any of this, just what I've overheard.
We were all so pleased to hear from him and to get to know the cousin/nephew that we had long since forgotten and he was in tears at hearing about his father and his extended family. It definitely made this one of the best Easters our family has ever experienced.
