Dear Mandy, Hi, you must be wondering who I am. My name is Shannon xxxx and I am your big sister. You're what? Yeah, I said your big sister. I know that you already have a big sister named Samantha (Sam) and she is my big sister too. Sam calls me Keisha or Keesh; I'm not sure if you have heard her talking about me. Well, where do I start? I know that you are wondering, how we can be related since we don't have the same mom and dad. My dad is Clive xxxx; he is also yours and Sam's real father and that's why your last name is Forrest and not Brown like your mom and dad.
The reason for this letter is that I would like to get to know you better. I have heard so much about the beautiful young lady that you are becoming.
English: Looking south from Top of the Rock, New Y...
English: Bird's eye panorama of Manhattan & New Yo...
CliveAll your life I thought that you at least knew about me and your real dad. I had no idea that your mom kept that part of your life a secret and away from you. I found that you had no idea that you had another sister and even an older brother James Forrest who is about ten or eleven years old. I don't know a lot about James, for I have not spoken to him in a few years.
I have spoken to Sam a few times over the last few years. I used to spend the summers with your parents (real); I used to call your mom my Auntie Gem. I remember our first summer together. You were about three months old, and you had to be the most beautiful baby I knew and still know. I still have pictures from that summer with you and Sam. It was great. The last time I saw you was the next summer. Then a few months later Clive and Auntie Gem got a divorce and your mom remarried the man that you know as dad. I still spent the summers with our dad, until about five or six years ago when Sam still lived him because she didn't want to switch schools at the time, so she stayed with our father.
I live in New York City with my mom; I am a sophomore at xxxx University. I know that you have a grandmother that lives in New York City in Manhattan. Well I live in the Bronx and that's at least 30 minutes away from where your Grandma lives in Manhattan on the train. My school is about eight hours away from where I live that's if you're driving. If you take a plane it is about fifty minutes, but there is only one commercial airport for that region of Western New York which is located in Buffalo. Niagara University is located in a little town called Lewiston. Lewiston is about 30 minutes from Buffalo and five minutes walking distance to Niagara Falls. Maybe some day we can take a trip to see the falls.
My major is accounting and my birthday is on August 17th so that means that I just turned 19. I never forgot about you or Sam. I know both of your birthdays, Sam's April 3rd and yours is on the 11th of April too. I love you very much and I only wish sometimes that I got a chance to get to know my one and only little sister.
I hope that by writing this letter you will start to ask questions about who you really are and about your other part of your life and background. Tell Sam to kiss you for me, and I wish that I could be there to explain everything to you, but Sam will. We have already talked about how we were going to approach the subject with you. This is my number 718-320-xxxx; my address is xxxx Boller Ave. Bronx, NY 10475.
Love Always, Your big sis Keesh
Lewiston, Maine
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The Bronx is shown in yellow.