Overdue Update, Part II

The rest of the story…

So, we arrived in Baton Rouge and parked on the outskirts of the LSU campus at a house that belongs to friends of Hale and Sandra. We tailgated there for several hours. I met several friends of theirs who I assume knew who I was. Mostly everyone was talking about the impending LSU-Florida game so there was no need for getting into deep discussions about why I was there, which was fine with me. Everyone was a little concerned about my affiliation with Auburn but happy to know that I was pulling for LSU that day. After a few hours of tailgating there, eating wonderful food and having a few pre-game drinks, we began a somewhat long walk towards campus to look for Allison, Hale’s daughter, and his goddaughter Jenny (both students at LSU). After a few cell phone calls and quite a bit of walking, we were able to find Allison and Jenny, so I met them for the first time right near the LSU Memorial clock tower by the library. Allison is a junior at LSU. After a few quick introductions, we walked over to a building nearby and met up with my parents, who were tailgating there with friends. More introductions followed, and we all sort of mingled for several minutes before Allison, Jenny, and Brian decided to take off and do their own thing. Hale and Sandra stayed with me for a little bit longer to visit with my parents, and then I took off with them to head towards the stadium. The campus was absolutely crazy, so we enjoyed taking in the sights, the crowds, and the chaos. Eventually we made our way to the stadium and found our seats, right near the very top of the nosebleed section. Surprisingly though, because it was such a big game and the crowd was so wild, it really didn’t seem like we were so high up in the stands. It was a great game. Long story short – LSU won and we had a great time cheering for them together. I didn’t know if Sandra was very into football, but she was right there in the mix and just as excited as anyone around, so we all had a great time. Geaux tigers!

Sandra, Jenny, Hale, Allison, Brian, me

With Mom and Dad Pre-Game

With Hale and Sandra Post-Game

After the game, Hale and Sandra gave me a ride to my parents’ house, so I stayed the night there while they stayed with some friends of theirs nearby. They had lunch that day with Brian and Allison while I went to church and ate lunch with my parents, and they stopped by mid-afternoon to pick me up and to spend a few more minutes with my parents. I rode back to Jeanerette with Hale, Sandra, and Brian, and I spent a little time late afternoon at the bayou house relaxing while they went home. Hale picked me up for dinner, and we went to a very posh sushi restaurant at a casino in the middle of the sugar cane fields about 15 minutes or so from his house. Who would have thunk that this nice restaurant would be right there in the backwoods, but there it was, and it was very good. We enjoyed fresh sushi and a wine selection chosen by the restaurant manager.

That night I ended up staying at Hale’s house, and Monday morning we went to my favorite restaurant for breakfast. After some eggs, scrambled light, and hashbrowns just the way I like ‘em, we headed towards the airport. We started to say our goodbyes as Hale walked me in to check in, but before we knew it we were walking right back out – flight delayed. We ended up having quite a few hours of extra time to linger around in Lafayette, so I had the opportunity and pleasure to meet a gentleman named Mr. Lee.

Let me now diverge a little to explain who Mr. Lee is... The first night that I met Hale, when I stayed at his bayou house, I noticed a few wooden bowls and vases in the kitchen. They were very beautiful, made of many different types of wood, and appeared to be hand-crafted. I lifted one of them up and noticed on the bottom a name, a date, and a description of the types of wood in that piece. After appreciating the small collection of bowls in the kitchen, I happened to see a few of them in the bedroom, and in the bathroom, and then I noticed the mother-load stored in the bedroom closet. Wow, I thought, I’ll have to remember to ask about these things. Of course, this was at the end of a long and monumental day. At some point in the weekend I did remember to ask about the bowls, thinking that maybe a relative of Hale’s had made them. He explained to me that he had bought one of them one day at a craft fair, and after driving off and examining it closely, he promptly drove back and bought the rest of them that were for sale. When he asked for information about the artist who crafted them, he got no further than the name of the man who lived in Lafayette. So, getting to the point, Hale has since found and befriended Mr. Lee, a retired engineer who has picked up the hobby of woodworking in his retirement. Every couple of weeks, Hale stops by Mr. Lee’s house for a visit and pretty much buys everything he makes. I was intrigued by this, so when we found ourselves with the extra time on Monday morning, Hale took me to meet Mr. Lee. He and his wife were at home and invited us in to visit. Mr. Lee took us back into his shop and showed me all of his woodworking tools and machines. He was working on a new bowl for which he showed me his CAD design printout, and he let us watch him work for a few minutes.

Needless to say, meeting Mr. Lee was a nice and unexpected surprise, but of course the whole weekend was a new and exciting adventure. Hale and his family were welcoming hosts, and I have already had the opportunity during my Christmas break to visit them again.

So, now I don’t have any more huge unanswered questions about my past and my adoption. Of course, this is not the end but another beginning.

Overdue Update, Part I

The snow is falling here in Atlanta, building up a nice little collection on the cars, trees, and grass outside. This is big news here in Georgia, so the news stations are reporting very diligently that in fact the snow is falling, that it is white, and that the roads will inevitably be slick tonight. One Department of Transportation representative suggested that everyone “just don’t go out”. I am obediently staying in, trying to keep a fire going, and enjoying the view out of my window. Incidentally, the snow looks about the same in Cobb, Fulton, and Gwinnett counties per the local broadcasts.

This should be a great day to take advantage of being homebound and study for the big exam that I have on Tuesday, but alas, I am not in the mood. So until the mood hits me, I will busy myself with other things. The poor, unattended blog has thus entered my mind, so I will attempt to make up for some lost time. As the fire in my fireplace is virtually dying, I will take a stab at bringing to life some long-overdue updates on life.

If you have kept up with this narrative of my random thoughts and occasional updates, you probably remember that in August of 2006 I began a new adventure by contacting Marcia, my birth mother. It has been a wonderful year and half since that time of catching up on the 28 years we did not know one another, meeting and getting to know each other’s families, and generally moving forward with a new relationship that I had never quite imagined would be so enriching.

The new news is that in August of 2007, I took another big leap of faith and contacted my biological father. His name is Hale, and he lives in the small town of Jeanerette, LA. This is a little less than a 2 hour drive from Baton Rouge, where I grew up. After a few weeks of writing back and forth with Hale, he proposed that I fly down to Louisiana for a football game so that we could meet one another and enjoy something together that we both happen to love (ie – football). After a little disappointment that I would not be able to make it down for the Auburn-LSU game, we were able to arrange for me to fly down the first weekend of October. I arrived at the Lafayette, LA airport on a Friday afternoon with bags packed and heart pounding. In this small regional airport, it took only seconds after walking off of the plane to spot the 6’4” Hale, who was grinning from ear to ear and looking at me with sparkling eyes and a little glistening of tears. I could sense now in person the gentle spirit of this man who I had corresponded with and already come to appreciate as an easygoing and kind-hearted person. We walked outside and were greeted by his very loyal companion, Abby (a 6-yr old golden lab), who was obediently waiting in the back of his white pick-up truck. The drive down to Jeanerette was pleasant as we started to talk more about our lives and I heard the interesting story of how Hale ended up in what has become a dream job for him. We saw a beautiful rainbow in the sky, as there was a light rain in the air, and we could see both ends of its span across the highway and beyond. He took me first to his bayou property along the Bayou Teche, on which he has built a house for entertaining as well as relaxing (and building things in the adjacent workshop). This was to be my lodging for the night, and Abby stayed with me to keep me company. Hale and I had a drink or two, ate some wonderful gumbo that he had made earlier in the week, and chatted a bit more before he headed back home to his house up the road.

I spent a little time just sitting around after he left, taking in the environment and processing the past few hours, and then I popped in a VHS of Groundhog Day and zoned out for the night. I made it about half way through the movie before falling asleep to the sound of rain falling on the tin roof. The next morning Hale picked me up, and we went to have breakfast at a little café in downtown New Iberia (a slightly larger town near Jeanerette). While we were down there, we made a few stops. We went to see his houseboat, which was docked on the Bayou Teche right near the restaurant, having been stationed conveniently there for the Gumbo Festival which I believe had taken place the previous weekend in downtown New Iberia. We stopped by to see a friend of Hale’s who owns and operates an auto repair shop on the same street where we ate. We went to see a cousin of Hale’s who lived nearby and to whom he needed to deliver some tickets for the LSU game that night (vs Florida). We then went to visit Hale’s mother, Eve, and it was a joy to visit with her for the first time. She is in her early 70s, in overall good health, twice widowed, and according to Hale is a very strong woman. Her home was impeccably clean and orderly but at the same time warm and inviting. After a brief visit with her, we drove a few more minutes to stop by Hale’s sister Adrian’s house. She was also very inviting and is a nurse with 3 children, only one of which still lives at home but was not there at the time. Our last stop of that morning was at Hale’s cousin Wardell’s house, who was just getting ready to mow his 1-mile long (but only about 25 yds wide) stretch of backyard. Wardell, like everyone else, was very friendly, very easy-going, and we enjoyed a few minutes of laughing and talking together before leaving him to the awaiting grass.

Next on the agenda was to head back to Hale’s house and make preparations for going to the LSU game that night. We arrived around lunch time at his house, and I finally met his wife Sandra and son Brian, who is 18. I would meet his daughter later that day at LSU. Admittedly it was strange to enter their home and to make small talk, a stranger and yet in some strange way a part of this family, but we all survived the uncomfortable beginning and managed to get loaded up in the truck for the trip to Baton Rouge.

…. I’m starting to get a little tired of typing now (and you’re probably getting tired of reading), so I’ll continue this story later, probably today but I can’t say for sure.

Here are a few photos in the meantime…

Hale and his mother, Eve

Me and Eve

Bayou house (and Abby)

Bayou Teche at Sunrise