I met my biological father when I was 18 years old. I was a senior in high school.

One day, my guidance counselor called me down to his office. That wasn’t unusual, so I assumed he wanted to discuss some last-minute college paperwork. But when I walked through the door, I found something unexpected.

Standing there was a man who looked like me …smiling.

Just a few weeks earlier, I had shared with my guidance counselor that I didn’t know who my biological father was. Mr. Johnson was easy to talk to. He had a way of making you feel comfortable, and somehow the conversation about my father came up.

What I didn’t know was that Mr. Johnson knew him.

They had grown up in the same neighborhood and had been friends for years. Not once did he mention that he was going to find my father. So when he looked at me and said, “I’d like for you to meet your dad”, that afternoon in his office, I was completely caught off guard.

It’s a strange feeling to be introduced to your own parent.

Think about that for a moment.

Where had he been all those years?

Even with-all those unanswered questions, I was genuinely happy to meet him. But I couldn’t help thinking, Really? He was this easy to find? I had spent month searching for him. Apparently, I had just been looking in all the wrong places.

The meeting itself was awkward.

I think it was awkward for him, too.

Still we talked.

It wasn’t the beginning I should have had, but it was the beginning we were given. Sometimes life doesn’t hand us perfect moments. Sometimes it simply allows us to begin, no matter how late that beginning may be.

And so, we took advantage of the opportunity God placed before us and simply began.

It was never easy because I didn’t know how to forgive. There were years of unanswered questions, hurt, and lost time that couldn’t be given back. But as the years passed and I matured, I learned that forgiveness wasn’t about changing the past-it was about freeing my heart.

I forgave him, and I am so thankful I did.

When he passed away years later, there was no bitterness or malice in my heart. Therewas only love for the man I had come to know as my father.

I love him…my dad.

My dad and I. 2014 Family Reunion.

Until the Next Blog Be Blessed