I am so happy ....

just thought I'd share....

I know this forum is so sad most of the time
so stressed

know this~
I was once right where you are
hurt
sad
lost
confused

it will be better

yes it will

but I am almost BURSTING with joy right now

so I am spreading it to all y'all

TAKE some of my joy
I've got oodles to spare

the more I give away the faster it seems to fill up today

what a freakin' amazing day



Pep <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

thanks I needed that! <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Anything in particular you wanna share that has you bursting?

I was wondering the very same thing. What's up, Pep?

today I won a really nice award at work
being one of many nominees
I told Susan (earlier today in email) I was going to the award luncheon knowing I would NOT win, but I would enjoy the free food and hopefully the speeches would not be boring.... but

the speeches were about ME

and what is even better???

they called H last week and told him I was winning & invited him too

he came forward with 2 dozen roses as I was called up to the podium !!!! <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

I was shocked to win
I was shocked to see Mr Pep's cute butt there amongst my colleagues (he wore shorts ! LOL ... it's HOT here)

I was thrilled to win the award named in honor of a colleague in my field, who I respected very much, and this award is given annually in her memory

and then .... after I got home and was arranging my roses .... I got a call from family

a long-lost half brother has been found

I spoke with him
I have a big brother
a new big brother

it's amazing....

Pep

WHOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Pep

Aren't great days amazing!

I've been in tears most of the day!

good ones

Congratulations!

Enjoy!

These are the days to remember as long as we live. What a fabulous day! Congrats.

What an uplifting, positive, joy-filled day!

Thank you for sharing it with us, Pepperband!

Pep,

Congratulations Pep, am sure these awards and events are the result of you being YOU. I could think of no one more deserving of a good day such as yours.

God Bless,

JL

Thank you for sharing your joy with us!

Sounds like you have had a blessed day!

One I am SURE you deserve!!!

Sweet!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Good for you and enjoy.

Fabulous - simply wonderful - and couldn't happen to a more deserving woman!

Thank you for sharing!

Awww.....so good to read good news here. Congratulations on your hard earned award and your new big brother! <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" />

applause
applause
applause
applause...
ovation...
applause
ark

oh pep,

I am in tears too. You are blessed. You are WORTHY. That was given to you today. BELIEVE IT!!!! <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

You have given so much, here on MB, and obviously elsewhere! LOL! Your time to recieve blessings! <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

You deserve this. <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/pfft.gif" alt="" />

God Bless.

Love in Christ,
Miss M

<img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

HAPPY! HAPPY! HAPPY! Mimi, here, doing the HAPPY DANCE!!

Imagining you there with Mr. Pep and his shorts and the roses and the BIG FAT GRIN ON YOUR FACE...

OH MY, HOW WONDERFUL!!!!

I feel so proud to have the opportunity to get to know you..even this small slice of YOU!!

Good things also happen to MBers!

Congratulations! A perfect day.

I knew it. I didn't believe you for one minute!

CONGRATS HUNNY!

She got a big fat CHECK!

I told her she ought to go buy herself a pretty new DUSTER! <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/pfft.gif" alt="" />

Thank you so much for sharing your joy! I'm sitting here with tears streaming down my face and so happy for you.

You are obviously appreciated everywhere as you have given me such wonderful advice as well as lifted my spirits so many times not only in my posts but in your response to others on this board. In fact, your response to the "thank you" letter to my H from OW is a classic. As time has moved forward I have realized that your response took away the power the letter had held over me as I could see it for the trash it was and I thank you for that.

Congratulations on your success. Mr. Pep is indeed a lucky man to have someone like you. Enjoy those roses, you deserve them.

Have a great day.

AnnieT

Pep, I also discovered I have a half-brother last year who lives in Norway. Seems my dad was a naughty boy in the merchant navy before he got married. I completely understand how amazing that news was for you.

And the other news is pretty good too!

Congrats, Pep!

Very nice.

Stretch it out over the weekend!

WAT
------------------
Do not put anything in the head that has not already been in your mouth.

BIG THUMBS UP FROM TEXAS! Way to go, chica! <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

my 1/2 brother was a WWII baby
my dad his mom married
within a week he was shipped off

when he returned to his wife
she had an infant
she told my dad "It's not yours."
she was having an affair while dad was at sea
no DNA in 1944
they annulled

there is more to the story
as it is just now being revealed to us

but
my sister saw him in person yesterday
she said "Spitting image of Dad @ that age." He's 62!

I may make this a screenplay!

wowzer

Pep

not to mention
I have 4 new nieces and nephews

and

2 grand nieces and nephews

my son said .... after this sank in

"I guess we have more cousins now?"

LOL

Wow, Pep. What a story. I am so happy for you to have had such an awesome day yesterday.
Congrats

My half-brother is 50 so he's my big brother. Also has a striking resemblance to my dad. I do worry though if there are a few other surprises around the world. My dad married late and he travelled the world before he settled down with his much younger wife (me mum). My parents knew about this son but didn't think we needed to know until he came and knocked on their door last year out of the blue. My mum has been quite 'strange' about it. Fears he might want a bit of the pie so to speak.

Do you hope to meet him soon?

Yes I hope to meet him

I did consider "the pie"
which is all included in the trust my parents set up before Mom died 2 years ago

it's not really an issue, I think

he's 62
he's got his own family & extended family
his Mom is still alive, living in a nursing home in the state when he & his wife live (Susan, I spoke again with my sister late last nite & I asked her about his Mom)

1/2 brother's Mom revealed to him 10 years ago that she lied on the birth certificate
lied to my Dad
lied to the (then) OM whom she married then divorced

aren't the long-term consequences of infidelity simply amazing !!! <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/eek.gif" alt="" />

the person I MOST want to have a heart-to-heart talk with

my Daddy

I wonder how he feels
finally knowing his son IS his son

after the long lie

I wonder how much it hurts knowing he missed out on having a relationahip with his son

must feel surreal

I will talk with him next week

driving there to visit

Pep

I have so many questions, but want to respect your privacy...

I also have a half-brother I have never met. I don't even know if he knows I exist. Our shared birth father died several months after I was born... and my mother severed all relationship with his family when she met/married my (adoptive) daddy. And she threw away all pictures and anything else that was his...

sigh... anyway...

So, there's a 50-something year old man out there (unless he's passed already) who shares my blood.

I cannot imagine how it would be to have my questions answered... to meet someone who perhaps looks like my birth father (I only found out what HE - birth father - looked like last year. Long involved story, that one).

I am happy for you, and will follow this... it IS amazing.

ETA: He was married before my mom... and if there was any affair, it was between he and my mother... though she has never admitted to that. She rarely talks about him at all. Sorry to go on and on... this has triggered a renewed interest for me.

I hope Daddy is not going to suffer from this .... I am thinking ... he's got 4 other GRANDCHILDREN he has never met and 2 more GREAT grand kids as well

I am thinking mostly about Dad today

yesterday I was thinking mostly about myself !!!

I spoke to my son yesterday ... who KNOWS he has many (maybe as many as 8) other siblings "out there" (besides his sister who we also adopted)

I said

maybe someday you might get to meet them too

his response was "NO WAY"

which tells me he is still angry at his birth mom

but at age 20 .... he's got time to outgrow that

well NBII

since you are still alive & kicking ... you may some day get a call like the one I got yesterday

I HAD done a feeble search for 1/2 bro a few years ago ....
but I was using the wrong last name

Pep

Congrats! I'm so proud of you! I can just imagine the awesome feelings you are experiencing! Keep up the good work! Hurray, PEP!

Pep...

Congratulations to you!!! I hope you got a shiny new tiara as part of that award...you know a girl can never have too many of those!

Thinking of your Dad and your new found brother...I'm so very sorry for the years that all of you missed out on...Infidelity has some really evil ramifications that's for sure...But what a blessing to have the opportunity to get to know each other now...Saying a prayer for all of you!

Mrs. W

I am thrilled for your most recent family enlargement, Pep.

I would imagine there are quite a few half siblings out there, thanks to our G.I.'s.

I have a half sister in germany.

My dad was stationed their in the korean war, and met a lady while still married to my mother in the states.

He promised the ow marriage and the picket fence.

She was pregnant when he left and came home to my mother.

The OW contacted his mother, my grandmother and asked what happened to my dad, she was waiting for him to fullfill the promise of marriage, as she was getting ready to have a child.

My dad apparently did not want to honor the committment to the OW and left the german woman there in Germany to shoulder the responsiblity and shame of having an out of wedlock child.

Two years later my mother and father had the first of three children.

My paternal grandmother kept in contact with this OW and her child.

On the death of my grandmother we found a scrapbook with little patches of cloth and pictures of my half-sister little dresses that she had worn growing up.

We were not allowed to know about my half-sister until many years later when I confronted my father about it, and then had an open discussion with my grandmother.

My sweet grandmother knowing that her legitimate grandchildren, (me and my sisters) knew about our 1/2 sister, and she then displayed all the pictures of our half sister including the one of her wedding pictures.

My aunts and grandmother had communicated with this half german sister over the years but never my father. They even went to Germany to visit my half-sister, her mother and her adopted father.

We have tried to communicate with her, but she didn't want anything to do with my sister's our myself, sadly.


Anyhow,
Sorry to make this so long Pep.

I am so happy for you.

Thank you so much for sharing you joy in your well deserved award and finding the brother of long past.

Raising my glass to you! (Cheers, Pep)


Sincerely,

k.d.'s Heartbreak

Hi there pep

I am so happy for you. You certainly deserve such blessings & more :-) Enjoy

I'm certain there will be more blessings awaiting someone like you who give so unconditionally to total strangers.

You came to my help in my darkest hours. You have been the beacon in the dark for me & so many others.

Thinking out loud, re half-siblings out there for many of us......... sure some half-siblings are GI products, others pre-marriage laisions.

Others could be from A during M but fact is many of our parents stayed together till death do us apart. The BS between our parents have been spared the hurt & agony of knowing any A. Ignorance is bliss?

But of course, for most of us here at MB, we dont have a choice, we have either suspected or already discovered A.

Anyway, enjoy your joy & may there be even more happiness for you & loved ones.

endofworldnomore

Just wanted to send congrats. Days like that don't come along very often. <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Wow!

Thank you all

this is an interesting thing this new old half sibling

I learned more about him

his 2 half-brothers both died
he has no living siblings but for me and my younger brother
which sort-a explains the recent events

my younger brother does not want to be bothered
he's saying "and so what?"

I might be more sensitive to this
because I know my 2 kids will likely do a sibling search one day

and really
why not let one more human into your life

he seems like a very decent sincere man
not looking for anything other than connectedness

connectedness ... I think that must be an EN

Pep

So true. We need all the friends/relatives we can get.



Could this be more of a guy reaction? Busy with his own life and career and marriage? He may come around and change his tune later.

Could this be more of a guy reaction?

possibly

plus

I think he might be wary of comparisons ... I think this new man in the family touches his insecurities in ways we 2 sisters never could

Busy with his own life and career and marriage? He may come around and change his tune later.

[b]that's what Mr Pep said ... "Leave him alone. He's thinking." My SIL is badgering him to 'connect' <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif" alt="" />

Other news ... We already had plans to drive up to check in on Dad this coming weekend ... Bro 2 is going to remain there, so we can meet. I meet him Friday.

<img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

Let's hope I don't frighten him !

Pep

Susan

and there's more

One of Mr Pep's cousins has 2 kids.

They recently 'disowned' their 22 year old son, who 'came out' to them.

We're going to invite him to take part of our family gathering whenever we are in town ....

We're just spreading out in all sorts of directions !

LOL

Pep

Oh Lawd! <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/eek.gif" alt="" />

Hold yerself back until he gets used to you. <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/pfft.gif" alt="" />

<img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" />

They recently 'disowned' their 22 year old son, who 'came out' to them.

I hope the parents get it together, on their own or inspired by your example, after the "shock" wears off.

GC

Be careful dear Pep. I have experience of this.

Care to share Bob?

Not here Susan. Hate to be a buzzkill on this happy thread.

Just that Squid and I have some experience of estranged family showing up out of the blue and not all of them were good experiences.

I'm being careful ... but what did you experience? A sibling pop-up?

Suz

I'm gonna email you sompin'

go look

Squid had half-brother and half sister pop up. And also her bio mom and dad showed up.

half-Sister & bro = mild disappointment on both sides. High expectations, little in common but genes. Bio parents = Yuk. BIG yuk.

oh fer pete's sake

... tell me!

I am interested, unless it's too personal or too gross & involves sex with chickens or sompin'

<img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/pfft.gif" alt="" />

sex with chickens

Finger lickin' good ! <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

shut
up
turkey

***and what is even better???
they called H last week and told him I was winning & invited him too***

I am happy for you Pep.

I really am.

Do you know that at WH's workplace, spouse are strictly prohibited from attending events like this - even when they're held off-site and in public, like at a hotel ballroom or fancy restaurant?

How would Mr. Pep have felt if some nice male co-worker of yours had been the one to give you the roses? But that's exactly what would have happened at WH's company.

That's what I struggle with every day. A lot of corporate spouses do. It's horrible.

Didn't mean to rain on your parade. Really didn't. Glad things are going so well for you.
Mulan

this must be bothering you all the time
you often discuss this particular thorn

Pep

***this must be bothering you all the time
you often discuss this particular thorn***

Yes to both.

Even worse, he's a big enough big shot now to be one of the guys who MAKES and ENFORCES that policy.

Oh, well.

There ain't nothin' I can do about it.

He's in New York right now with his favorite set of boobs. She works for him and they flew out together. Tomorrow night, they're going with a few other people to see *Spamalot* on Broadway and enjoy a fancy dinner.

I think I'll go kill myself now.

<img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />
Mulan

Is boobs married?

One reason why many business events are employees only is so that they can be listed as eductional and offset against tax. Inviting spouses makes them gifts in kind and subject to tax from the employer and the employee.

For big companies it can cost a whole lot of avoidable tax. My own company strictly limits the spouse-accompany days to sales rewards only.

If it were me?

I'd cancel my current plans ... and SHOW UP in NY all dressed up and waiting for H in the hotel lounge !

Pep

Pepper, congrats on the award at work! It must be very satisfying to have your hard work publicly recognized and appreciated!

Very cool about the "new" 1/2 brother! <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" />

Lori