Brother from another mother

In light of the latest post by a blogger, Phil, on extended families, I'm gonna talk about one of my brothers. I was an only child in a single-parent home. I had both of em {parents, that is} round me til I was 4 but then momz finally said ENUF (consequently, I'm dealing with {read: acknowledge the reality of} my own split a lil better...but I digress). As with anybody hurt/frustrated turned vindictive, popz announced the presence of my brother. Of course, I wasn't privy to this information for a few more years until I was visiting with the paternal kinfolk.

I still can't remember exactly how it came out to me or what my reaction was. My p-kinfolk tend to preface certain announcements with "you know...[so n so][this happened or happening], [etc]" so that had to be somewhere in the mix. But we were between 8 - 11; really can't remember. We'll both be 31 this year (just hit my mark a couple days ago). We kicked it for a day and that was that. It's possible that other days that summer we got together, but my memory fails me here. My cousins and aunts knew him and all, so thankfully he wasn't cast to the side, but as with anybody we do have the tendency to estrange folk sometimes. But we're supposed to know stuff that's going on, though. smh

Through the years, we got to kick it the weekend of our grandmother's funeral (15) and I ran into him on Alcorn State University's campus while I was visiting (23 or so). In the most recent years, we've taken it upon ourselves to stay in touch and it's been a true blessing. Of course, we don't have the history that growing pains bring, but the bond is real nonetheless and we love each other as such.

Family functions always find me amazed at the amount of before-unknown relatives and their relative locations. I continue to stress to myself that you take life from this day forward, so I appreciate my life experiences. Of course, as Jay-Z once said, "you have to live with regrets." Just can't use that as an excuse to repeat what I regret.

I would hope that, when possible, parents allow and encourage kids to know their siblings. What is a half-brother/sister? If I recognize my aunt's husband's daughter from another woman as family, how much more should I one that shares some of the same DNA structure as myself?