Life's An Adventure

So I have this crazy but good heart friend I'll call Steve, since that's his name. We met when one of the Ds and his daughter were in kindergarten, and have stayed friends ever since. He had a troubled marriage of many years, and finally got a divorce about 10 years ago. Last year Wifey and I attended his daughter's wedding. Sadly, since then, he and his daughter have been estranged.

But his life was a bit more complicated. A year before his daughter was born, he had a fling with a woman, who got pregnant. The woman was married. She had the baby, and told her then husband the girl was his. She never contacted Steve about the baby -- until the girl was about 10. She then was living out of state, and contacted Steve with a fax picture of the girl -- saying she just wanted him to know he may have a daughter, in case the girl ever needed to contact him about any medical history.

Nothing more was said, until about 2 years ago. The now young lady, a grad student living in North Carolina, took a DNA test. The results came back, and she asked her mother why they showed she was 50% Ashkenazi Jewish, when Mom was Central American, and Dad was Cuban. Oh yeah -- and what did Ashkenazi even mean?

The Mom reached out to Steve. They did a paternity test, Indeed, it was confirmed -- the now 27 year old was his. He contacted her.

The two took it slowly. The girl was accomplished -- Master's degree and working as a college administrator. Steve told his daughter about her half sister. The two texted, but never met.

Today -- Steve asked me to come to his house -- to meet the young lady and her boyfriend. Also there were Steve's brother, nephew, niece, and the niece's boyfriend -- modern Orthodox Jews living in Aventura.

We all sat outside, by the pool, drinking beer and wine. I got a chance to talk quite a bit with the young lady. She is positively delightful, as is her boyfriend. She is sweet and very smart. She asked all of us about Steve -- is he really a good heart man? I assured her he was -- though sort of like a Labrador retriever in many ways -- clumsily knocking over things in life, but always meaning well.

She loved meeting and chatting with her new cousins -- very South Florida Jews, though giant ones. Steve's brother played in the NFL, and his nephew is a scholarship player at FAU, having transferred from Michigan. 

The new family was headed out to a Kendall Italian place, and asked me along. I begged off. I figured they had enough to discuss among themselves.

The "new" daughter thanked me for coming by to meet her. She said -- "Well -- I guess it's true -- life is an adventure."

Here was this person living a life not really knowing her true genetic identity, and now learning it. She was raised an evangelical Christian, but always was most interested in the Old Testament stories, she said. Hmm....

I'm glad I got to meet her, and her nice boyfriend, a IT products guy. They were going to stay on South Beach, and then Brickell. I put on my tour guide hat, and told them places to see -- especially not to miss the view from Sugar, on top of the East Hotel. They promised to visit Monday night.

We promised to stay in touch. Indeed -- life is an adventure...