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Blog Unites Family

I was at the Web 2.0 Expo in April when I received this short email via my blog contact form:

Hi Zoli,
I think we are related. Your father is my cousin (this picture of you looks just like him). Anyway, I am trying to get in touch with your father for old times sake…I got this blog address from ….

Please let me know if you are who I think you are.
Irma …
(my maiden name is ….)

I removed personal details, but the names matched, so we exchanged more details, including old family photos. I have to add that I barely know my Dad’s family. He is of the unfortunate generation that grew up during World War II. His family perished in Nazi concentration camp, he himself barely escaped from a Russian labor camp at age 19. He doesn’t like to talk about those times, and I don’t ask.

And now there was this email from a long-lost relative. Irma remembers me, I don’t remember her. Apparently she was a teenager when she saw me as a baby. She is now semi-retired in Arizona and is coming to meet her long-lost cousin, my Dad in California this weekend.

I thought these things only happen in the movies…

Comments

  1. That’s so cool.

  2. The Other Zoli says

    All I can say is wow.

  3. Brilliant story Zoli

  4. Vic Podcaster says

    This is great Zoli. I am happy for you.

  5. I had a similar experience. He is my father’s classmate in high school, who drop me a line to ask my father’s stuff.
    But not as complicated as yours.

  6. Lovely story, Zoli. Thank you for sharing it.

  7. I’m happy for you. It’s a miracle of modern technology.

  8. Wow, Evan, nice to hear from you. If she’s the long-lost relative, you’re the long-lost friend. 🙂

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