They say it's our past that makes us who we are today, and yet we can't let the events or actions of our past keep us from driving us towards our dreams for the future. No one could have prepared me for the twists and turns my life would take after that fateful day over two years ago, the day I first set eyes on my long-lost sister, my twin sister nonetheless. This is not the story of a high school glee club, although I wouldn't be here if it weren't for many of the members of that same glee club. This story is about identity and how anything, even the smallest insignificant detail, can derail our lives and put us in scenarios we couldn't imagine in our wildest dreams. Its taken me a long time to get to this point, and a lot of the details are still sketchy to me, instead I am relying on the accounts of those closest to me, and I hope the story of my adolescent years can help others realise the importance of living their lives to the fullest and telling the people they care about how they feel, because you never know when everything you once knew, is taken from you in an instant…
Sectionals – November, 2009
"Don't tell me not to live, just sit and putter.
Life's candy and the sun's a ball of butter.
Don't bring around a cloud to rain on my parade!"
"This girl is good," I heard Jesse quietly say next to me, not that I was paying much attention to him. I was too transfixed on the young woman marching down the aisle towards the stage, all the while belting out vocals the likes of which aren't usually seen in first-time performers. It can't be, I thought, what are the odds? I checked the program the usher had handed to me and looked under the current group, New Directions was their name, and instantly I knew who it was I was seeing, her name standing out at the top of the list of performers.
"That's her," I said, absolutely stunned at the realisation, "The girl I've been looking for since I came to Ohio. This is her!" I rapidly pointed at her name and showed it to Jesse.
"Who is she?" Jesse asked me.
"It's my sister, my twin sister!" I said, and as people began turning to me and shushing me, I grabbed Jesse by the shoulder and got out of our seats and exited the theatre room, but not before running into a group of people wearing similar clothes that Rachel was wearing. I made my way past them without giving them the chance at seeing my face. Jesse and I then headed to sit at the lobby café tables and I began to explain. "You know when I told you my mother died when I was 10? Well she said I was a sperm donor baby, but she wasn't counting on having twins, so she adopted my sister out to this gay couple from Ohio. After being bounced around the foster care system for 2 years I wound up here, and ever since I was hoping I would find her. All I knew was her name was Rachel."
"How do you know that girl on stage is her?" Jesse asked.
"She looks so much like my mother it's freaky, that and her name in the program, it can't be a coincidence, there's just no way." My mind was racing, "I can't believe it's been almost 4 years since I came to Ohio and there she is, a part of our competition."
"What are you going to do? Are you going to tell her who you are?"
"Are you kidding? She may have no idea I exist, the only thing she's likely to know is that her mother adopted her out! And I'm gonna show up in her life claiming to be her brother without any real proof? And what happens when she discovers I am the coach of her rival glee club? She'll think I'm just trying to mess with her!" I took a deep breath, gathering my thoughts. "No," I continued, "If we are to meet, she has to come to me, looking for her birth mother. And when she finds me…" I paused, closed my eyes and said, "We'll have to cross that bridge when we come to it."
"How can I help?" Jesse asked.
I looked at him and asked "You mean that?"
"Totally," Jesse said, "I've got an idea, what if I became friends with her? Then after we spend some time together, I can begin to probe around, get some information and see if I can't motivate her into finding her mother. And when the time is right, there you'll be."
I thought about it for a moment, he seemed serious, but Jesse wasn't the kind of guy who befriends girls, he goes much further than that, sometimes with more than one girl at the same time. "Come on Jesse, we both know that you can't just be friends with a girl."
"I'll consider it an acting exercise!" Jesse explained, "Besides, this is about a lot more than just a glee club contest, it's about getting closure. I mean, you never know what if she meets you and she becomes the sister you've always wanted. You told me your mother's biggest regret was not giving you a sibling."
I considered his plan for a moment, and finally decided to go for it. "Okay," I said, "Let's do it. You befriend her, and we'll go on from there." We both stood up to leave, "How do you plan to get her to know you?" I asked.
"Don't worry," Jesse responded, as we walked towards my Range Rover, a gift from our Booster club for winning our Sectionals last week, "I have a plan of my own."
We drove out of that parking lot, but I couldn't but question if what I was doing, and involving Jesse, was the wisest of decisions I ever made.