Wonderfully tingling info my dear.

OMG, a message of catharsis that really held me in awe, all the way through.

"Organized religion, the greatest purveyor of hate that mankind has ever known...(HL Mencken).

lol don't want my views on religion. It has always been the tool of governments to keep the lower classes in line. Might give you some idea of my views. lol.
great piece and long time no see Malady!

Excellent photo and touching write up, thanks for sharing, Be Well Be Safe

Lynn, all I can do is say since we are so close and discuss most matters in private I'll keep it that way. You know I love you like family and will always be there fro you anytime you need me. You've been through so much in your life, and honestly most people wouldn't have held up half as good as you through half of it. The sad thing is there are some people who claim to represent God but then do anything but that. We are all his children and he loves each and every one of us. It's just sometimes a few bad apples warp his message of love and try to make themselves feel better by putting others down. We can talk about this more later in private. Hugs

This is wonderfully written, my friend. Straight from your heart, speaking your truth, with no "sour grapes" and no sense of large pockets of unfinished business. You tell your story with love and compassion, and I'm looking forward to reading the next installment.

Heartfelt!

Lynn, thankyou for telling us your story, it is very moving as well as shocking.

Your story moved me so much, dear Lynn. Your father was absolutely right... and you don't worry, he knows that you listened to his words and his teaching!
I love you, Lynn... a hug! :)

Wonderful.

That was a deep moving story of yourself, Lynn. I hope you found peace, when you found your roots. Thank you for sharing, my friend.

Lynn, thankyou for sharing your very moving story. I am so pleased you got to speak & communicate with your father. Amazing how everything started to fall into place. Take care & looking forward to the next chapter. xxxx

Very touching, thank you for sharing!!

Wonderful writing!

a great story and touching writing

I am incredibly glad that I saw this, and I have to say that the specifics of your story are quite different from anything I've experienced, but the root causes are the same; ah, but prejudice, fear-and-loathing, and all of that gunk all stem from the same source--something a friend of mine calls "existential badness." It exists in-and-of itself and infects people who are otherwise innocent and "good." It's kinda like something Maxine Hong-Kingston said in her novel Tripmaster Monkey: His Fake Book. She said it about a particular racial slur beginning with the letter "N," but it applies to the sorts of slurs that often lead to even more detrimental things. "It's in the American air," she stated, "and will use any zombie mouth." She described racism and sexism and other -isms as verbal flatulence: people making farting noises when they should be talking. The problem today is so many people are farting and acting as if they're saying something that anyone else needs to hear! The thing is, you can't blame people for farting: they do it because they've been hijacked, and it's fantastic to see that you're not pointing the finger of blame and looking for some kind of payback--non-farting people are like that.

There's so much more that I could say, and I am sure that I will (in private) but I definitely wanted to say how moving this is, and how much of my own life is put into perspective by just reading this. I plan to live and work in Russia (in Moscow) because of someone special to me, and I lived in the Czech Republic for a while...that experience alone was as cathartic to me as you reconnecting with your father. It's always an amazing feeling when one discovers family, whether it's genetic, or spiritual or both. I found a spiritual family--which is hilarious because they're all a bunch of slightly kooky bookworms and artists, beer drinkers and mushroom-pickers over on the other side of the planet, but the rush of feelings you describe when reconnecting with your father is so similar to the rush of feelings and rightness I felt when I stepped off of the plane in Prague and was disappointed that the Czech Republic seemed so...appropriate rather than exotic, foreign, or even interesting...oh, it became interesting, but I suspect beer and a certain group of friends had something to do with that! But anyway, enough of that...this is a marvelous and moving piece of writing, and I'm incredibly glad that I was given the honor of reading it!

A moving tale indeed!

This is a most heart and emotional story to share. Thanks for doing that. I look forward to reading more.

Amazing!

That is an incredibly moving account, I'm so impressed that you haven't fallen into the lies, but are setting out on your own path towards a greater honesty and spiritual integrity. It takes courage to share something like this with strangers and near-strangers, we're humbled by the strength you have shown.

This is an incredibly beautiful telling of great sadness and strong perseverance of spirit. I am so glad you were able to know your father and your grandmother. The stories of the letters, and all the power they contained, moved me. The first letter written by your grandmother all those long years ago. Horrible as their actions were, it is a blessing that it was not destroyed. It lay hidden all those years with the power to heal and make reparations, locked in its words. Your letter, sent into the clouds of time, a letter you sent out with little expectation or hope but with a desire that filled your being. Your grandmother's letter blessed with her tears and full of her love and long held hopes of someday reaching you. And then your letter to your father, I can only imagine his joy at receiving it and your shared joy at finding each other after all the years and lies that had stood between you. Your narrative has all the sadness, blindness, hypocrisy, hate, and all of the joy, awareness, perseverance, and love that are part of the human condition. Thank you for sharing it. You are a person of great spirituality and courage and I am privileged to know you.

a story of wonderment and discovery, why did you not go, to see your father?

This is fantastic, hard because of the lies, but so beautiful and wonderful that you were able to make that connection to the part of your life that was missing. I did things in childhood too, rituals totally outside my family, perhaps from the side of my family I've never known and I just think it is so wonderful that you discovered some of your mysteries. Thank you so much for sharing it with us here!