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For those of you whom I haven't told, a quick preface:
Around February, I came home from school one day to find my mother in tears, and she said she had something important to tell me. It turns out that the father I've known all my life is, in fact, my ADOPTED father. My biological father (who I didn't know about till then) died being hit by a car while helping a friend unload furniture from a moving truck. Mom and dad decided I had to know about this, because if I wasn't aware of him, I would never receive the inheritance: a few personal possessions, and a whopping $125,000 life insurance policy, of which I was the sole beneficiary.
So, I got in contact with the wife of my biological father, Jennifer. We had a nice chat a couple times, though there was a period where we couldn't talk because she was going to West Virginia for her sister's funeral, who had also recently passed away. After a while, we were able to get in contact again, and I gave her my contact information- home and cellphone numbers, address, etc. She needed them to send me the paperwork with information about the inheritance and how I'd go about claiming it.
Months have passed. I received no paperwork, and any calls I made to her, my biological father's own father, or my siblings (one of which I have the number for) went unanswered, with no pick up, and no returns.
Yesterday, sitting at school and chatting with friends, I get a call... But I'm a little anxious about this particular call. I know the area code- 423, a Georgia number (I recognized it from the calls I had with the wife of my deceased biological father). However, I don't know the rest of the number, it's foreign to me. So, I answer, say "hello?" and they ask me, "is this Christopher Johns?" I say, "Err, yes, may I ask who this is?"
"Okay, I'm gonna have to ask you to hear me out... As far as I know, I am your biological father. I faked my death so that I could get in contact with you."
...
So, my biological father, as it turns out, is ALIVE, and faked his death (illegally) in order to get my contact information. Over the course of the call, he notified me that there WAS an inheritance, and that he's terminally ill with Lupus. He was given a six month expiration date about six months ago, so he has very little time to live. Now I have the choice of either going to visit him and my siblings in Georgia, or to let him come here to see me.
This is HUGE. This is RIDICULOUSLY and OVERWHELMINGLY huge. I call mom and tell her what's happened ("I KNEW it. I fucking KNEW the sunuvvabitch was still alive! That's EXACTLY the kind of thing he would do!"), and I let my teacher know I'm skipping my last class so I can go home and think about this stuff. Mom arrives literally right behind me.
It's at this point that I sit down to have another chat with mom. Over the course of this chat, I learn that my biological father is insane, and a pathological liar. Apparently, when they were under the impression he was dead, my parents decided it wasn't important that I know psychological issues RUN IN MY FAMILY- at least, my father's half. My mother's half is just strange. Anyway, so, mom calls Grandma to gloat ("I was RIGHT. The sunuvvabitch is ALIVE"), and Grandma makes some calls (one to my biological father's own father, several to the family because she likes to gossip). It's then that we find out that my biodad's been "terminally ill" with a VARIETY of conditions SEVERAL times over the last few years. Kidney failure, Lupus, cancer, heart disease... Oh, his wife and kids are all crazy liars, too. Also, I looked up some info on Lupus online... It's usually considered a woman's disease. Not only that, but it's usually only found in women of COLOR.
So... Now I have an insane 30 somethin' year old man from GEORGIA with a bunch of crazy offspring and a crazy wife... And they have my address. And I'm alone in the house for two days because my parents went to go gamble in Louisiana for two days.
The only part that really bothers me? There's probably no inheritance. I can kiss any hopes of paying off my financial aid goodbye.
FML.
Around February, I came home from school one day to find my mother in tears, and she said she had something important to tell me. It turns out that the father I've known all my life is, in fact, my ADOPTED father. My biological father (who I didn't know about till then) died being hit by a car while helping a friend unload furniture from a moving truck. Mom and dad decided I had to know about this, because if I wasn't aware of him, I would never receive the inheritance: a few personal possessions, and a whopping $125,000 life insurance policy, of which I was the sole beneficiary.
So, I got in contact with the wife of my biological father, Jennifer. We had a nice chat a couple times, though there was a period where we couldn't talk because she was going to West Virginia for her sister's funeral, who had also recently passed away. After a while, we were able to get in contact again, and I gave her my contact information- home and cellphone numbers, address, etc. She needed them to send me the paperwork with information about the inheritance and how I'd go about claiming it.
Months have passed. I received no paperwork, and any calls I made to her, my biological father's own father, or my siblings (one of which I have the number for) went unanswered, with no pick up, and no returns.
Yesterday, sitting at school and chatting with friends, I get a call... But I'm a little anxious about this particular call. I know the area code- 423, a Georgia number (I recognized it from the calls I had with the wife of my deceased biological father). However, I don't know the rest of the number, it's foreign to me. So, I answer, say "hello?" and they ask me, "is this Christopher Johns?" I say, "Err, yes, may I ask who this is?"
"Okay, I'm gonna have to ask you to hear me out... As far as I know, I am your biological father. I faked my death so that I could get in contact with you."
...
So, my biological father, as it turns out, is ALIVE, and faked his death (illegally) in order to get my contact information. Over the course of the call, he notified me that there WAS an inheritance, and that he's terminally ill with Lupus. He was given a six month expiration date about six months ago, so he has very little time to live. Now I have the choice of either going to visit him and my siblings in Georgia, or to let him come here to see me.
This is HUGE. This is RIDICULOUSLY and OVERWHELMINGLY huge. I call mom and tell her what's happened ("I KNEW it. I fucking KNEW the sunuvvabitch was still alive! That's EXACTLY the kind of thing he would do!"), and I let my teacher know I'm skipping my last class so I can go home and think about this stuff. Mom arrives literally right behind me.
It's at this point that I sit down to have another chat with mom. Over the course of this chat, I learn that my biological father is insane, and a pathological liar. Apparently, when they were under the impression he was dead, my parents decided it wasn't important that I know psychological issues RUN IN MY FAMILY- at least, my father's half. My mother's half is just strange. Anyway, so, mom calls Grandma to gloat ("I was RIGHT. The sunuvvabitch is ALIVE"), and Grandma makes some calls (one to my biological father's own father, several to the family because she likes to gossip). It's then that we find out that my biodad's been "terminally ill" with a VARIETY of conditions SEVERAL times over the last few years. Kidney failure, Lupus, cancer, heart disease... Oh, his wife and kids are all crazy liars, too. Also, I looked up some info on Lupus online... It's usually considered a woman's disease. Not only that, but it's usually only found in women of COLOR.
So... Now I have an insane 30 somethin' year old man from GEORGIA with a bunch of crazy offspring and a crazy wife... And they have my address. And I'm alone in the house for two days because my parents went to go gamble in Louisiana for two days.
The only part that really bothers me? There's probably no inheritance. I can kiss any hopes of paying off my financial aid goodbye.
FML.
