The Work in Progress... Finally Getting Somewhere?

My page on MySpace has a bucket list I compiled, and one of the things on my list is to get my dad's family back in my life. Well, about three and a half years ago, my dad finally contacted me for the first time in about six years. He picked me up from school one day and I stayed with him for the weekend. At one point he decided to go visit Mark, my half-brother. For the first time in probably six or seven years, I saw him. He had a daughter, Kadence, who was born in the summer of 2005. I got a couple pictures of her, and that was that. I haven't seen or heard from him since.
Now, I barely talk to or see my dad because he's out on the road driving semis. Even though Mark lives right near Chauncey Rose with his girlfriend and their daughter, I've not once seen them in the past three or four years. Then, at work the other day, I got the most surprising text message from Facebook.
It was Mark, asking me through a Facebook message if I'm who he thinks I am. We started talking, exchanged phone numbers. Texted each other for about four hours until I went to bed. I found out his birthday is May 17. He turns 26 next year. (Although, his Facebook says he was born in '83, which means he'd be turning 27. But whatever :P) Kadence turns 5 this coming summer! It's insane... He's still dating Crystal (Krystal? I don't remember if it's a C or K). He works for his stepdad painting cars. He likes playing paintball. Basically his whole life revolves around his daughter.
Even though those four hours were the only time I've talked to him in the past three or four years, I feel like I've known him forever. He said if I ever need anything, not to be shy, and just let him know. Crazy to hear from family you should be closer to, but barely know, right? Ahh... it's just so randomly awesome that he sent me that message. I don't even know.
I'm super excited and happy that I'm getting closer to them all again. I've been randomly visiting my grandpa the past few months, mostly to check in to make sure he's doing okay since my grandma passed, and to hopefully run into my dad there. Usually the only people I see when I go are Danny and Jennifer. I think David might've shown up once or twice though.
Man, I really miss that part of my family. They may not be the most sophisticated, or the most well-off, but they are a really close and loving family. And that's what matters. They aren't as judgmental about things like my mom's family can be. They're open to anything, and I love going to see them, awkward as it might be sometimes.
I told Mark that I should start coming around to see him and Kadence and stuff soon. If I wait too long to go start visiting her, it'll be awkward between me and Kadence later on when she's old enough to remember she doesn't know me that well. I want to get to know her better. I want to spend time with her. She is absolutely adorable!!! I don't know when I'll have time, but I'm definitely going to try to find some time soon to head up to the northside of town to visit and stuff. :)

And as a side note, I really wish I had more time to get online and post blogs. There's a lot that's been on my mind nonstop all the time and sometimes it helps to vent openly like this. I've been so super stressed. I'm glad it's finally the end of the trimester. Plus my birthday is in two days!!! But other than that, I know next week will be just another trimester, and I'll have to start taking PreCalc, and then I'll be even more stressed because that's the part of math that I actually struggle with learning a little bit. :/. At least I'll have second period as a guidance runner, so I will have a little extra time to catch up on stuff. :) Technically only three classes next tri: English AP, Chem AP, and PreCalc. Then I've just got orchestra. :) I'm pretty excited. Hopefully it'll be better than this trimester. And then last tri will be easiest of all because I'll basically be done with my AP classes, and I'll just have to worry about German 3, and PreCalc. And US History will be cake. :)