B: Oh Brother (WR)

I’ve always wanted to have a brother. I grew up with two older sisters. I was the youngest sibling and the only boy. That all changed 3 years ago when I found a half-brother that I didn’t know I had. The finding of my brother itself was an incredible story. I definitely want the movie rights. For those of you that don’t know the background you can read my blog entries about it: http://www.hdhstory.net/Storyblog/?p=320. You won’t be bored.

Franz, my brother, is 12 years older than I am. He lives in France with his wife Cathy. He and Cathy unfortunately don’t speak English. Though I’ve been trying to learn French over the past 3 years on my own, you could say that I don’t speak French either. I can read it a lot better than I could 3 years ago and I keep studying, but when in conversations with my brother and his wife over Skype I have to rely on my brother-in-law, who speaks fluent French, to translate what is being said. I am a deer in headlights.

A lot of my communications with Franz and Cathy are via email, where I can pass as being fluent. Skyping only happens when my brother-in-law is part of it. Then it is fun. You have me from Long Island,  Franz and Cathy from France, my sister Leslie and her husband Hank (our translator)  from New Jersey, and  my sister Marion from Texas all on the screen at the same time.

My computer allows me to record Skype sessions, so I’ve been trying to record some of them. Hopefully I can use the recordings as I focus more on listening and speaking French to help me figure out what they said, without the interpreter.

Having a brother is not a choice I made, but since finding him I’m working hard on learning French and being able to communicate with him better. I did get to meet him once when he came to the U.S. with Cathy after we had discovered each other. Hopefully one day I will get to go to France and have more conversations in person. They are family.