I have an older brother; his name is Eric. I haven't seen or talked to him in more than five years. He up and moved and didn't tell anyone anything and I haven't had a clue as to what's been going on with him or even if he was okay. He's never met Jonathan, didn't even know about Annah, and had no clue about Andrew.
But a while back I was able to get some information that may or may not have been correct on where he could have been living. I wrote down the address, but never went any further with it. This has been probably a year or more ago. I guess I just lost the motivation to do anything with it.
Anyway, we went to the zoo today, and on the way home, I was kind of in a funk....just really quiet, thinking about Andrew and this baby....nobody was talking or anything, and then all of the sudden Eric was in my mind and the thought came to me with the name of the road that he lived on. Without even thinking about it, I grabbed my GPS that Austin gave me for Christmas and put in the road name. I didn't know the street number or anything. And it turned out that the exit off the interstate was .4 miles from where we were. I said, "Austin, I want to do something."
We got off the interstate and started following the directions. It was WAAAAAAAAY out of our way, and I kept saying, "This is crazy. I know it's crazy." I had no clue what house number I was looking for or anything. I was just going in blind. I knew that my brother used to drive an 18 wheeler, but that was years and years ago, and I had no clue as to what he was doing now. I told Austin that we'd just go looking for an 18 wheeler parked in a yard on that street.
On the way, I started praying that if the Lord wanted me to find Eric, that he would show us the way, that he would guide us, and that if we found him, that I would say what needed to be said. When we found the street, there was nothing there to give us any clues as to which house we were looking for. No 18 wheelers, no vehicles like I remember Eric's looking. I saw a vacant house and thought that that was probably the one, since it's been so long since I found the address in the first place, and I began to get disappointed.
After driving up and down the road a few times, Austin stopped and asked me what I wanted to do. I couldn't even think. We were so close. There had been a couple of kids outside one house, and Austin started towards them to talk to them, but they got in a truck and left as we were getting closer. There was a man that was walking his dog though, and Austin pulled up and asked if he knew my brother. He didn't know the name. But he did know that someone who drove an 18 wheeler lived a few houses up, and pointed out the house. We drove back up to that house and I got out and went and knocked on the door. A man that I didn't know answered, and I apologized for bothering him, but asked if Eric lived there. He said no, that he lived next door. Confirmation!
I literally skipped from one house to the next and knocked on the door. A woman answered the door and I asked if Eric was home. She looked at me very oddly and didn't answer. I couldn't blame her....here I was a stranger, a woman, asking for who was probably her boyfriend or husband. I said, "I'm his sister."
And she gasped. She asked, "The one that's the police officer?!?" And I said yes. She invited me in, and said that he wasn't there, but she grabbed the phone and called him. She said to him, "I've got someone here that wanted to see you,"
and she handed me the phone. I said, "Hey Bubba. It's Stacy."
He said, "You're kidding me!" And I said, "No, I'm not." He asked how I'd found him and I told him I was good at my job. We talked for a few minutes....I told him that I wasn't sure if he was going to be angry when I came, since I didn't think he WANTED to be found. He said that he'd had a lot of stuff happen and that he's a very private person and didn't want to talk about and answer to what had happened. I told him that was fine, but that we all had bad things happen to us, and that we're family and I wanted him in my life and in my children's lives. He told me it was good to hear my voice and that he thought about me a lot.
We didn't talk long, but it was good. I couldn't tell if he was angry or happy I had found him.....he just sounded shocked. He promised to call me tonight when he got home from work, and told me to leave my number with his girlfriend Tabatha. I told him I loved him, and he said he loved me too, and we hung up. Tabatha wrote down all of their numbers for me (home, cell, work cell) and hugged me and said it was really good to meet me, and that Eric had talked about me before and she'd seen pictures of me and Matthew. So I know he cares at least a bit.
I don't know what will happen. He might not ever call. He might disappear again. But he's my family, and I love him...and I'll keep doing whatever I can to have him as part of it.
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