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Family Photo
Album
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Here are
some photos of me and my family... and if you continue below, the very
romantic story of my mom and dad!
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Mom
and dad
My mom and
dad just got back together after 32 years of no contact. My dad
discovered he had a daughter and a lifemate at the same time!
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Me
This was me
in the Italian Renaissance festival at Viscaya, about ten years ago...
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My
Wedding
My
husband and I got married in a medieval wiccan wedding in October of
2001...
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At the
wedding...
And my
dad the King giving away the bride, his princess (yes, too cute!)
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My Parents'
Wedding
My
parents got married, after 34 years, at Las Vegas on the Starship
Enterprise (both of them being Trekkies!) If you want the full story on
their romantic re-meeting, see below.
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My
husband ...
Here is a
picture of Jason and me, in Miami at Christmas...
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My Parents' Story
Some foolish people claim that the age of Romance is over and long dead. I
beg to differ.
My mother, Judy, was a young, rebellious twenty-something in the late 60's,
traveled from her native Ohio to England, to be an Au Pair to a Scientology
student's children while she was in class. She took several classes at the
center there, and met many people, including my father.
D.Paul (as he preferred to be known) was a dashing, somewhat eccentric
student at the Scientology center, who sang folk songs and played his
guitar. Evidently he struck the right notes with my mother (and several
other women), and they had a brief but fun love affair. They had perhaps 6
months before they parted ways... he back to his wife in Minnesota, and she
to Edinburgh.
It was after he had left that she discovered that she was fulfilling the
ultimate purpose of the female... she was pregnant. While being a single
mother was not unusual in America in the 60's, such attitudes had not yet
become the norm in Scotland. She lived close enough to the Drambouie
distillery to smell the scotch on the air every day.
As she came closer to term, she flew over to Copenhagen, Denmark, where
friends of hers were living. She stayed with them, and they became the
Godparents of her child, who was born on February 16, 1969... me.
As soon as I was old enough to fly (six weeks) we flew home to my
grandparents, where we lived until I was 9. The rest of my life has been in
Florida; first Miami, then as I lived on my own I moved farther north. Fort
Lauderdale, West Palm Beach, now Gainesville.
During those moves, I tried to find my father. All I knew was his name,
Dennis Paul Klein, but I knew not how to spell it. I knew he came from
Minneapolis, but not whether he was born there. I knew he was roughly my
mother's age, but had no birth date or age.
I tried several avenues, starting around age 17. I called the Church of
Scientology in Minneapolis to find some information, only to find out that
he hadn't been active there since 1971, and they no longer had the records.
They had switched to a computerized system shortly before, and didn't bring
forward the old inactives. However, one woman remembered him, and believed
he had moved to Dallas or Fort Worth.
I called all the D.P's, Dennis's, Paul's or other permutations I could find
in both the Minneapolis phone book and the Dallas/Fort Worth books, to no
avail. I called the Church of Scientology in Dallas, but they had no record
of him. I even wrote to the Church of Scientology in England, where he had
taught, hoping to at least get the correct spelling of his name. That one
clue actually came through, they verified that Klein was the correct
spelling. It seemed like such a wondrous hurdle...
As I played at genealogical research, I had several issues of Everton's
Genealogical Helper lying about, and found an article for a gentleman
(named Elton Smith) who would help find lost relatives. If he found
nothing, you paid nothing, but if he found something, you paid $100. I
figured it was a small investment for possibly great rewards. As he did
this part time, it took the better part of a year to get the information he
sent. I received a birth certificate, a marriage certificate, and an
address, with the caveat that the address may be old. I wrote to it anyway,
with a painstakingly written letter, and anxiously awaited a reply.
When a year had passed with no reply (not even a "he doesn't live
here" reply), I decided that I could at least discover my genetic
heritage through research. Birth certificate in hand, I ordered his
parents' birth certificates from the Minnesota Dept of Health, and now had
a burgeoning family tree to work with.
At the time I received his parents' certificates, (March of 1999) I was
working for a CPA firm who employed another genealogical researcher. She
mentioned the there was a branch of the Church of Latter Day Saints (Mormon
Church) nearby, with a family history center. I knew that the LDS
maintained a wonderful database of genealogical research, but didn't know
there was a center nearby, so I went to check it out.
After several hours of research into the different branches of my tree, I
tried locating information on my father's branch. Lo and behold, I found my
great-grandparents' names in someone else's submitted family tree! I obtained
the submitter information, and wrote to the person (Sharon Peterson) in
Minneapolis. I explained the whole situation, and asked if she had any
further information on this branch of the tree.
About a week later, I received a phone call from Sharon. She had taken that
long to track down her Uncle Hubert Klein, who was my Great-Uncle. He had
my father's address, phone number, as well as my grandparents' information.
She also said that if, for any reason, my father cannot or will not
acknowledge me, that I have cousins in Minnesota that would be happy to
welcome me into the family. I think I cried...
Much too nervous to call that evening, I spent the whole night tossing and
turning, thinking of what I might say on the morrow, or what he might say.
I was so excited the next day at work, I got nothing done. Everyone was
excited for me, as well, and completely understood my non-productive day.
That night I got home, and anxiously awaited 9pm, as he was in California,
and I was in Florida. I called and got an answering machine with Star Trek:
The Next Generation music in the background. The machine told me: 'The
bridge crew is not here to receive your hail, but please leave your name,
planet of origin, and hailing frequency, and we will return your hail as soon
as possible.' I thought to myself, one, he has a sense of humor and two,
he's a trekkie. Both good points so far!
I left a brief message, saying that I was in Miami, that I was doing some
family tree research, and had discovered that we may be related. I very
nervously hung up the phone, heart pounding from the effort to sound calm
and unworried.
About 20 years later (actually 20 minutes) I received his return call.
After the initial greetings, the conversation went like this:
Me: 'Well, let me make sure you are the RIGHT Dennis Paul Klein... did you
live in England and work with the Church of Scientology around 1968?' Dad:
'Yes, that was me' Me: 'Do you remember a woman named Judith Jackson, about
5'6", long chestnut hair, very easygoing and laid back?' Dad: 'I don't
remember the name, but I think I remember the person' Me: 'Well, she's my
mom, and she says you're my dad!' Dad: '(long pause).... Wow!' Dad:
'(another long pause)... Wow!!!!'
And the next line wasn't a predictable, 'How does she know' or 'Can she
prove it', but:
'Why didn't she tell me?'
Simple acceptance of the fact, rather than denial... I truly did not expect
it at all. However, that question I did have an answer for, as I had asked
my mother the same thing many times in the past. I told him how she was not
one to rock the boat, and as he had already been married, she didn't feel
it was her place to disrupt his life with such information. He agreed that
at the time, he had not been ready for such a responsibility, and that mom had
probably done the right thing.
We spoke for a couple hours, and compared our likes, our dislikes, our
lives and ourselves. We talked about the things we had in common, defying
environmental trait supporters. We both loved history, travel, Scottish and
Irish folk music, the same science fiction books and movies, we loved
language and etymology, we both collected dragons and loved computers, and
of course we both liked Star Trek. Granted, some of these I also get from
my mother, but many I don't.
After nearly exhausting each other with such information, my new-found dad
asked how my mother was doing. Having found out beforehand that she
wouldn't mind, I passed on her phone number and email to him. Having also
found out that he had been divorced for 11 years, I felt no guilt in hoping
they would enjoy each other's company once again.
I must insert here that my mother has not so much as dated another person
since knowing my father...
My dad called my mom, and they discovered they liked the people they had
grown into, and we all started arranging for meetings. Granted, being on
opposite coasts made this difficult, as well as the fact that I was a CPA
in the middle of tax season, but we worked out a plan. Mom would visit him
in California for a couple of weeks in June, to attend his housemates'
wedding, and he would join us in Florida in September, for a weekend jaunt
to EPCOT together.
During the June meeting, my parents decided that they enjoyed each other's
company so much, that they would make it a permanent thing, so the wheels
started turning to move my mom out to California. It didn't actually happen
until a year later, but the beginning had started...again! The September
meeting was wonderful, and we had a great time in EPCOT together. I had been
several times, and was able to show them the best parts, while neither of
them had ever been before. It was a great first family outing.
My mother and I met dad in Minneapolis that Thanksgiving to meet his side
of the family. His brother Ron, and Ron's wife, Vera, their four children
(my cousins), their spouses and ten children, and various Great-Aunts and
Great-Uncles. We also met his ex-wife, Annie, who is a wonderful, generous
soul who made us feel welcome and at home.
The following October, I finally got married to my husband, and my dad had
the privilege of giving his new-found daughter away...
The following Thanksgiving, we traveled to Arizona to meet my grandparents,
and had a charming time there. The family reunion was complete!
In August
2002 I got even better news. My parents were going to get married! I was
even asked to be the Matron of Honor. It was be a slightly unusual wedding,
as it was in Las Vegas, on the Starship Enterprise Bridge, and the ceremony
was performed by a Starfleet Officer. My dad was in a captain's uniform,
and my mother dressed as Loxwana Troi. She wanted me to be Deanna Troi, and
my husband to be Worf... fascinating!
The wedding went off wonderfully, and then they lived happily ever after!
A wonderful end to an unusual story... and who says romance is dead????
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