"I am...the spitting image of my father and when the day is done my Momma’s still my biggest fan"--Jessica Andrews

I have grown up living with my mom and my dad here in the great state of Arizona. I was born and raised here and will probably live here for many years to come. I feel that a dad is someone who raises you, someone who goes to all your dance concerts and listens to you when you have an interesting story at school. A dad is someone who is there for you no matter what; someone who will be the one to walk you down the isle on your wedding day and shake the man's hand when he gives you away. So for me, my dad is the man in my house who has been here and raised me since I was six months old. The first time I met the man who helped create me  was a surreal experience for me. In this blog we will the one who lives in Kansas my father, and my dad in here in Arizona my dad.

I always knew I never really looked like any one in my family so the first time I met my father's side of the family, it was an amazing feeling to actually see people that looked like me. My father has a twin sister who, in my opinion, I think will be me in 40 years. The first time I met her I think I just sat there and stared. I tried not to be rude but I think I might have come off that way. She had the same nose as me, the same smile, the same goofy laugh as me and so much more! I thought, "Man, if this is just my aunt, I wonder what it will be like when I meet my father??".  For those who don't have long lost family members that you have never met before, be thankful, because I compare getting to know them its like dating without all the romance and gross stuff.


I started talking to my father in June of 2010 for the first time out of my then 18 years of existence. At first, I was quite angry; I wanted answers. After two months of talking to him and my three brothers in Kansas, it was decided that in October of 2010 I would fly halfway across the country to meet my father; the man who helped put me on this planet. I sat in terminal four at Sky Harbor Airport at gate twenty-something at seven in the morning. I had arrived about two hours early to the airport deathly afraid that security would be super slow and I wouldn't make my flight on time. The two hours I sat there and waited were the longest two hours of my life. I sat there thinking to myself, "What if he doesn't like me? What if things go horribly wrong on the way there and the plane has to land in some BFE town and I am going to miss my opportunity to meet him?". I am lucky in the sense that my aunt, the one who I look so much like, has such wonderful kids that went to Kansas with me the first time and that helped me calm my nerves.


During my whole flight, I didn't want to get up because I just wanted to get there. I didn't want to use the plane toilets because I figured before I actually saw my family I would be able to stop in the bathrooms and freshen up after the three hour flight. Yeah, no. That didn't happen. I walked off the plane at Kansas City International Airport and after walking about 20 yards, there they were. My father, younger brother Michael and my wonderful cousin Mackenzie with her son Luke were waiting for me. What were my first words to them "Ummm...Can you guys watch my stuff? I really have to pee".


I couldn't believe what I had seen. I saw my father for the first time. A man who I had only had seen two pictures of in my whole life and now I was actually in his presence. At first it was quite awkward, I didn't know how to act and I didn't know what to say. I spent two full days with my family out in Kansas plus my two days that I flew in and out of Kansas. On my last night there, we sat down and took family photos, the first one that I had ever been in with them. It was a hard good-bye but I knew I would be back.


It wasn't until an assignment I had for a class in the fall of 2010 that I really realized that "I'm a spitting image of my father".

Me and my (Kansas) father at a bowling alley

I have had a wonderful blessed life within these 8 months getting to know my other half of my family and I couldn't have gone through as much emotional stress as I did with out my mom being "my biggest fan" and the love and support of my dad. I am so grateful that my whole family has accepted me in with open arms as if I have always been there these past 19 years.

Me and my Daddy on Super Bowl Sunday of 2010