Well, when I posted my last entry on Monday, I certainly had NO clue what was ahead for me beginning that afternoon!  If you follow me on Facebook, then you know my news already and I'll share details with you here.

Whew!  What a week it's been.....and in an extremely good way!  I received an email on Monday afternoon from a Sarah in England.......asking if I was the daughter of Konstanty Leszczynski, who was the son of Julia and Maryan.  Yes.  This was me, I wrote back, but before giving more info, I asked, "who are YOU?"   Well, as I said on that previous blog post.........Life IS stranger than fiction!  Because it turns out that Sarah is my second cousin.  Her and her brother, Steve, have been searching for their Mum's father (and their grandfather) over many years.

Julia is my father's brother's daughter!  She is the female cousin on my Dad's side that I have longed for all of my life.  "I" (so I thought) was the only girl on my Dad's side......and had all male cousins.  But it seems that due to a WWII romance, that wasn't true.  And after over SIXTY years, we have found each other!

A million emails have gone back and forth all week to gather more information and try to put pieces of the puzzle together.  We may never have all of the answers, because unfortunately, my uncle passed away 7 years ago and Julia's mother is also now gone.  She would never tell Julia any information concerning her father.  His name was finally discovered on her birth certificate a few years ago..........his name was listed, along with his Army serial number which enabled them to continue with their search.  Which ultimately led them to ME!

Of course I was beyond excited about all of this.  As an only child, it meant even more to me.  On my Mom's side, I do have a few female cousins, all much younger than I am.  But Julia......she's right in my age group, only two years older than me.  Did my uncle know he had a daughter?  We'll probably never have the answer to this.  Did the rest of our family know?  No answer.  The sad part is that my uncle never had children.  And yes, he was married when he met Julia's mother.......a not so uncommon occurrence during WWII.  Could that be why none of us knew about Julia?  Maybe.  

It was pretty exciting to discover I had this cousin, and adding to this discovery was that Julia had been named after our grandmother.  Yes.....our Polish grandmother was also named Julia.  But I think one of the most eerie things I discovered was............when I saw a photo of Julia when she was 17 or 18........I literally got chills!  It was like looking into a mirror and I've never experienced anything like that before!

Julia...................

Me.....at age 16

As I said, it was downright eerie to see "me" in somebody else!  And we've also discovered those genes run very strong, because Steve bears a strong resemblance to his grandfather and Sarah also carries a resemblance.

How I wish we had found each other years ago.  How I wish Julia had had a chance to meet her father and that my uncle could have met his daughter and grandchildren.  But none of that was to be.....however, you can bet all of us will finally get to know each other, cherish the moments that are ahead for us and be grateful that even though it took all of these years......we finally found each other!

And yes, I found it quite ironic that on the day I chose to write about something like this.....it actually happened in my OWN life!

I understand the reasons for secrets.....but in my opinion, secrets are not always a good thing.  I understand how people need to be protected, but it's the future generations that tend to miss out.  I now can't help but wonder, is THAT why, from the first time I visited England in 1985, I felt a sense of de ja vu?  Did I unknowingly "feel" there was somebody there that was strongly connected to ME?  We'll never know................but I do know I've always had a "pull" for England, the British culture, the accent, and WWII.  

And I also know, I'm really going to enjoy finally getting to know the cousin I never even knew I had.  So welcome to the family, Julia!  Let's treasure all of the moments that are ahead for us........

See you here next time.......................