Hi. My name is Lisa, and while this story was
taking place, my life went all the way to complete chaos. I mean, it's that kind of story where you
question if you are who you are, and if anything you had ever known is real. And all this happened in a about week or so. I promise I'll try to remember everything
correctly, sometimes all I can recall is just... emotions. I still remember pretty clearly the last day
when everything was normal. It was a Sunday, and I'd spent the whole day
together with my parents. My mom’s name is Melissa and my dad’s
name is Tom. We had lunch at our favorite diner, went to
the movies, and finished the day chilling in our front yard. We laughed so much that day, just the three
of us. Then the next day my dad had to leave. It was just another trip of many. I've always known that he worked in a company
with offices on both the West and East Coast. We live in California, so every other week
he has had to fly to New York for 5 to 7 days. Sometimes these periods were longer, sometimes
shorter. And it's been like this for years already,
so I never questioned it. When he was away, mom and I would miss him
a lot, of course, and look forward to him coming back. The family was not complete without him. In addition, when he was away, he was so busy,
he couldn't even call us on some of the days. And he always said he missed us too, and that
every day he would dream about coming home. So that time was just like any other time. He had his return ticket for a week later. Unfortunately, his birthday was during the
week he would be away. The next day one of our teachers gave us an
assignment to tell the class about how different government stuff works. Mrs. Jackson says she wants us to know more
about adult life, so she gives us a lot of tasks that will help us years from now. I had to create a thorough report about tax
returns: what are they for and how do we fill them out. I remembered seeing my dad fill those forms
out a couple of days ago. He didn’t have time to file them, so he
was going to do that when he got back. So, thinking that it would not be a big deal,
I opened his desk drawer, where he kept all of his documents. The tax returns were there on top, so I started
going through them. And here's what caught my attention. In the “dependent” column I saw several
names that I'd never heard of in my life. These people had our last name, but I obviously
did not know them. I did not want to jump to conclusions, but
that was weird, right? When I took a closer look, I saw my name mentioned
in this column twice. But... this is a really serious document! Everything was supposed to be double checked,
so it could not be a mistake. Still I tried not to panic. And I did not want to tell my mom yet, because
first I had to figure it out myself (my mom can get too emotional now and then). So, I thought, what if I searched these people
on Facebook? At least I could get… something. I did. In fact I got a lot more than I expected. I found some of these people, not all of them,
but who I did find was a girl with the same first and last name as mine. Her face looked somewhat familiar to me, and
the whole situation was pretty creepy. She was a couple of years older than me. I started looking through her pictures and
after tons of photos I found a picture that seemed to be taken on Christmas several years
ago. There were a lot people at the table, and
one of them, whose face was not fully visible, who looked very, very much like my dad about
5 years ago. I freaked out. But still managed not to panic, which was
harder with every new discovery. Ironically, after all this happened, I got
way more confident about me being able to think and act smart under pressure. And this time I decided to text the girl I
had found, but with a lie. I pretended to be her allegedly very distant
relative, who really wanted to find and get to know her family. So I asked her who the man in that picture
was and what his name was. She replied really fast, saying she was glad
to find a cousin that she didn't know either, and said that the man was her father and that
his name was Tom. There was no doubt that it was my dad. And while I was trying to find a logical explanation
(what if he left that family a long time ago and just wanted to leave it all behind?)... Lisa said: “He’ll be home from work soon,
so I can ask him whatever questions you want! No, no, no, that would just ruin everything! I didn’t even consider that that might happen,
but I already had another story in my head. Maybe I should be a novelist or something. So, dad had a birthday in two days. (You should have seen how sad he was trying
to look that he’d have to celebrate it at work, away from us). I convinced Lisa that my mom and I were her
dad’s distant relatives that have not seen him in ages. And that we would be there in a couple of
days and maybe we could drop by with a present as a surprise. As proof, I sent my childhood pictures with
my dad. I guess this was a sad moment, but I was so
pumped with adrenaline that I didn't really feel anything. It felt like it was someone else who came
up with this scheme, not me. But Lisa thought it was a great idea and was
willing to help. She promised to keep it a secret and gave
us their address. They lived in New Jersey. So the next step – the hardest one really
– was to tell everything to my mom and convince her to do this. That was by far the most difficult conversation
I've ever had in my life. Mom’s first reaction was denial, but after
I showed her everything she got so depressed that she did not want to go anywhere. As it often happens, drowning in self-pity
seemed like the best option. But I used a trick. I told her that it would be the only way to
take him and the other woman by surprise, and to look into their shocked faces. Two days later we got on a plane. Both of us were getting more and more nervous
with every second. So of course, when we were approaching the
house, my heart was just pounding. I don’t really want to tell you about the
whole scene in detail. It was not pleasant, there was a lot of confusion
at first, then a lot of shouting, tears, and a huge shock for everybody. But there was one thing I did not even consider. When we came in, and Lisa opened the door
for us. The whole family was at the table: five kids
(two of them in their twenties already), dad’s wife who was years older than my mom. A house that looked lived in for a long time
already, and the atmosphere itself… It did not take long to realize, that this
was not my dad’s second family. We were the second family. My mom was “the other woman” and this…
this was dad’s real family all the way. First he was too shocked to even speak, then
he tried to explain himself, but nothing worked, of course, neither for us, nor for them. As far as I know, the other family doesn’t
want him to be part of their lives anymore either, after what he’s been doing for years. He really did work on both coasts. But the rest was a lie. My father had two families. And now he has no-one. As for my mom and I, we are now trying to
get used to our new life and just… sort the whole story out, at least for ourselves. And since then I’ve been chatting with the
other Lisa every once in a while. It sounds terrible, but it turns out that
it’s quite common for people who live like my father did, to name their children the
same names so they don't get confused. Talking to each other helped us get through
this. That's the wildest story that has ever happen
to me. After all, it's always about what we learn
and how we react. If something like that has ever happened to
you, don't hesitate to share in the comments.
