Someone is looking for you and now they can find you. Easily.
We used to get together all the time, but time separated us.
They moved away and I misplaced their address.
She got married and changed her last name; I can't remember what it is.
I got a birth announcement in the mail over 40 years ago and that was our last contact.
We have the same last name and same first name - are we related?
My family used to live in New York, and moved away to another state after my father died 50 years ago.
My brother moved to Germany to live with family friends; I haven't heard from him in 20 years.
Our family separated during and after the war. WWI and II changed our family.
In the 1950's people had party lines on their phones, long distance calling was extremely expensive - especially to another country, and some small towns in other countries did not have adequate mail service. The United States was booming and the economy was getting stronger everyday. Parts of Europe suffered from depression and lack of food, jobs, and resources. People were leaving Italy in groups. Families sent money to help others move away - to anywhere - just to get out and have a better life. Family members went to Australia, United States, and South America. Parents sent their children away to live with strangers, or family, or friends. Parents encouraged their children to leave. Some stayed in Italy. They stayed in contact the best they could. Letters, phone calls, travel, visits, marriages, babies, divorces, death, separations. Some stayed in contact and some never saw or heard from their relatives again, even their very parents.
Some contact was easy. Some was difficult. And then came the internet with directories and people searches. The biggest change came with Facebook. People started finding each other after years of separation. Directory and family information was simply at your fingertips. All one had to do was put their mind to it and declare, "I am going to find my family!"
