SNGF ~ My Second Letter to Santa

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun with Randy Seaver over at Genea-Musings prompted me to write the first of these two posts. The challenge and my response can be read here. It is highly recommended you read that post before continuing on with this, my follow up letter to Genea-Santa!

Dear Genea-Santa,

I can not begin to tell you how awesome a gift this was from you! The fact that you were able to grant my wish was amazing. Thank you from the bottom of my heart!

Because of you, my good friend Joe Dallman and I were able to crack this case and bring my friend back in touch with her father, Clay Thomas Carlin. We were looking for his final resting place, and instead we found that he is very much alive! In fact he was looking for her also. The phone call between the two happened this afternoon and my friend wrote me this while she was speaking to him.

"OH MY GOSH, YOU FOUND MT DAD !!!! IT IS REALLY HIM !!! I AM TALKING TO HIM ON THE PHONE RIGHT NOW. THANK YOU, YOU HAVE CHANGED MY LIFE FOREVER. THANK YOU SO MUCH. I LOVE YOU SO MUCH, I KNOW THAT IS CRAZY BUT NO ONE HAS EVER GAVE ME A GREATER GIFT IN MY WHOLE LIFE. i WILL NEVER BE ABLE TO THANK YOU ENOUGH. THANK YOU AGAIN, I WILL RIGHT MORE LATER LOVE YOU"

And, it only gets better. This would be the FIRST time she has ever spoken to her father. What better gift can a person have for Christmas, really? Money can't buy any of this.

To add to the excitement, this afternoon I had a message on my answering machine from the woman I sent the letter to. I tried calling her back a couple of times, but I had the wrong phone number I found out later. Thank goodness she called me back again so we could talk. It was a bit difficult explaining who I was, especially since I found out she WAS my friend's sister. I have not been told how many years it has been since she has seen her sister, but my calculations think it has been at least 14 years. When I let my friend know I had a phone message from this gal and I was going to be talking to her soon, she replied.

"please please give her my number and please get hers I love you cheryl I'm talking to my dad now!!!!"

Then another response from my friend:

"thank you thank you thank you"

For now, this is all I know. I am sure my friend is emotionally drained as it was a very big day for her. When she has the strength, she will follow up with me. I hope if there is a reunion I will have the opportunity to see a picture of her and her dad together, and maybe one of her and her sister at some point also.

So Genea-Santa, my wish has come true and even before Christmas to boot! You sent many people to try to assist me with this, and I thank each and every one of them so much. Thank you to Elizabeth, Randy, Cheryl D., Steve, Carolyn, Nolan, Barbara and most of all, Joe. Well, maybe, most of all you Genea-Santa. If it weren't for you and the letter I needed to write, this may not have come about, at least not this soon. You will have extra cookies this year when you stop by and even some special "nog" if you so choose.

Bless you and thank you again for bringing these family members together."

Cheryl

I think Joe worded it perfectly, how he feels, and I second that emotion! We need to celebrate!

"Feeling good that I helped reunite a daughter with her father after more than 30 years...Who needs material things for the holidays when you can do something like that for someone else?"


Merry Christmas Vanessa to you and your family, from all of us!

Thanks for stopping by!

Wishing you success in all of your genealogical treasure hunts!




Comments

  1. So happy to hear you were so successful in this! A wonderful Christmas story!!

    Cheryl

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  2. Cheryl, How wonderful. I had to read it twice. The Happiest of news, and you must be so thrilled. All your work paid off. BTW, I signed on with Ancestry again, just because of this. I hope they meet and I also wonder why she thought her father died...sure glad he didn't.

    ReplyDelete
  3. For those of you who don't know Joe Dallmann...that would be me...lol. Cheryl and I have first became friends through our blogs and now through facebook. If it wasn't for her blog and the letter to Genea Santa this would have never happened...I don't need anything else from Santa...When I read the story I immediately started digging and after about 20 minutes I found the info I was looking for...It feels really good to be able to help...

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  4. Well no wonder you couldn't find where he was buried - he wasn't dead! That's wonderful news, Cheryl! I'm so happy you were able to bring closure to this family.

    Who needs "Find My Family" when we've got "Heritage Happens?" :-)

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  5. Hi Cheryl, Thank you! We are happy we were successful to!

    Thanks Randy!

    Hi Barbara, I think I had to read it twice to, after I wrote it! lol So you signed on again? Congrats!

    Hi Deez/Joe, Thanks for explaining to everyone who you are! I am sooo proud to call you my friend! More people need to follow your attitude! Thanks again! I hope you are really feeling good still, you should be!

    Hi Elizabeth, You are so correct, no wonder he couldn't be found! Thankfully he has been now though!

    You are to funny! I wouldn't go that far!I think we still need "Find My Family" ;-)

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  6. You Rock Cheryl! You are one of the most unselfish, giving and loving people I know. You did good work my friend.

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  7. Hi Sheri, now you are embarrassing me! (Blush) Thank you for such kind words!

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