I met my grandfather for the first time on Feb. 21, 2016 and my mom, Lori, saw her dad for the first time since she was two years old on that same day.

It all started when my mom contacted her aunt and asked about her dad and how to get in contact with him. Eventually, my mom got the courage to call her dad and set up this time to meet.

It was a cloudy winter day when we drove out to central Texas and turned onto the street, coincidentally called Sarah Lane. As we pulled in the driveway, I could see he was just an average man, you wouldn’t even know he had a daughter and granddaughter he didn’t know until the next seconds.

When I stood there waiting for the click of the lock to unhitch itself from the door frame and the doorknob to turn, I was more nervous than anything else in my life; and I could tell my mom was too. When the door opened, his wife Patty was standing there.

He came up and immediately the thought I had from the way he looked: Santa Claus. He was short, had a long beard and white hair and was like a plump little Santa Claus! From there, we entered the house and started talking about everything. Me and my mom started talking about all the things involving my grandmother. How my grandmother was alright and happily married to her step-grandfather, the things she had done in her life and how my mom was raised. We showed him pictures of our family and in exchange he told us about his life.

My grandfather decided to take a trip out to their other house they were selling to show us the house and afterwards we went out to eat. Well, gratefully, I wasn’t the only one to think he looked like Santa Claus because a little boy was staring at him just like he was. My grandfather immediately turned to the little boy and said, “Have you been a good little boy?,” and the response the little boy made was a quick shake of his head. We all started laughing and talked more about our families; while discovering my mother had twelve cousins she never knew and four aunts and uncles she didn’t know either.

Later, when it was time to go, we all exchanged hugs and said our goodbyes until next time. It was a fun day for us all and one we will never forget.