The whole Gile fam
I’m taking part in a 30-day writing experiment. See Kale & Cigarettes for details and the Facebook Group to read stories by other 500-words-ers.
My Uncle Michael married my Aunt Joan 25 years ago. They have two sweet twenty-something daughters and a perfect home in lovely Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Michael is a high school math teacher and sports coach. Joan runs the local bank.
Theirs is a model family. Nothing ever seemed missing from their wholesome and happy lives. I grew up spending holidays with the Giles, often at their house in Portsmouth, where our family traditions included fresh-caught lobster for Christmas Eve dinner and oyster stew for Christmas morning breakfast—which no one ever ate because, gross.
One Sunday morning a few year ago, the phone rang in the Gile household. It was a stranger named Tyson. He wanted to know if my uncle had ever heard of a couple named Mac and Daisy. Michael went cold.
Before Michael met Aunt Joan, Mac was his best friend. Their friendship had gone sour over the lovely Daisy. Daisy chose Mac. Michael never talked to either of them again. He had put it behind him years ago. Now, three decades later, this Tyson was calling up wondering if my Uncle Michael could possibly be his real dad?
Understandably, my Uncle Michael was shocked… and skeptical. He asked Tyson to send over more info. Tyson sent a picture. They look exactly alike. There was no question.
Daisy died in a car accident when Tyson was little. He was raised believing that Mac was his real father. Mac had no plans to tell him otherwise, until Tyson enrolled in the army. As he was about to be shipped off to Iraq, Mac told Tyson the truth. Were he to be wounded, Mac would not be able to donate organs—they were not biologically related.
Shortly before he shipped off to Iraq, Tyson tracked down his real father, my uncle. The next weekend, he flew up from Alabama. He stepped off the plane and gave Michael the first of many hugs. Michael embraced him with open arms. Tyson, his wife Jenny, and their two boys are now a close part of the Gile family, and while I have yet to meet Tyson’s family, I see pictures of them all on Facebook regularly and hear the stories.
When my Uncle Michael talks about Tyson, he beams. The ease and equanimity with which he has handled this situation have been inspiring.
However, if you ask my Uncle Michael, he’ll say that the true hero of this story is my Aunt Joan. Since the news first broke, she has been nothing but utterly supportive and enthusiastic. She is a true model of grace.
And I can’t wait to meet Tyson and his wife and children later this summer, when my cousin Allison gets married on the shore in New England.
