You don't choose family. Some are takers. Others are givers. And I'm blessed to have received so much from mine. <br /><br />Nowadays, you can even find your family on the internet. And like Forrest Gump says, you never know what you're gonna get! <br /><br />Online dating makes some bold claims, but they've never delivered a story like what I'm about to tell you. Because Once I proposed to Angela, we discovered some uncanny coincidences. <br /><br />Both my mother & father came from families of faith. Because my family is so giving, their kindness boomeranged around the world. And connected me to my wife a century later. <br /><br />On my Mother's side - You'd think Aunt Betty was Mother Theresa. She gave 30 years as a nurse in India. The year she retired, Angela's uncle began practicing medicine in the very same hospital. We found a connection. <br /><br />After proposing to Angela, she called with an unusual request: was your paternal grandfather's name Fred? "Fred" died when I was a toddler. <br /><br />Turns out it was a logical question. Because my mother in law was bragging about her daughters soon-to-be-husband to her former landlady, Sheila - who rented her a room 30 years ago. <br /><br />On my Father's side, "Fred" hosted international students. The ones who were alone in a foreign culture, thousands of miles from home. So they invited a younger Sheila and her husband over for dinner - celebrate her culture, learn how to make curry, and just be together. <br /><br />50 years later, Sheila recognized my last name immediately. She knew there was a family of "Eckels" in NE Philadelphia in the late 50s who just had their 3rd son Timmy - my father. We found a connection. <br /><br />My mother's aunt gave - in a hospital alongside my wife's uncle. <br />My grandparents gave - and their guest rented a room to my mother-in-law. <br /><br />And both Aunt Betty and Sheila came to the wedding.
