Dan & Gaylynn & Boys

   Dan is my brother and Gaylynn is his wife. They have 2 young boys, M was 4 and C was 6 when Denis arrived in Canada last March 2011. Denis spent 5 months at my brother's from Aug - Dec 2011. They spent countless hours talking about the case and hashing out ideas and strategies. I hung my hat there most times I went to Winnipeg to visit. There was never a shortage of conversation regarding life and this adventure we were living. What Denis captured from his stay with Dan & Gaylynn is as follows:
  He was asked to leave his family home in January of 1997. His children were 4 and 6.  He had been a hands on father to his children from the moment of their birth. He then faced supervised and strained visits with his son and daughter through the 2 following years. The alienation process was in full force. He saw his children less and less and found himself wrapped up in a horrific, divorce/custody and access battle. The opportunity to see his children grow and flourish during those 2 years was next to non existent. The last visit he ever had with his children was in March of 1999.
  Denis and I met in June of 1999. My boys were just turning 7 and 9 yrs old. We have been together ever since.

  During one of our countless telephone conversations Denis mentioned that it was inexplainable how he felt life and its events were unfolding for him. He felt that everything that was going on was seemingly meant to be exactly that way, given the circumstances.
  He was an active participant in his children's lives from birth through 4 and 6. He was a very involved and hands on step father to my children from their ages of 7 and 9 through current day.
  The gap that he really missed out on is one of approximately 3 years.
  He felt it timely that he would be seen as the awesome Uncle Denis that our nephews loved sooooo much. Dan felt Denis' involvement with his sons was very important and that no gift could replace this human experience. He was the gift. C and M became very fond of their uncle and he was very active in their lives during the 16 mos spent in Canada.
  Denis felt grateful that he could witness and be a part of C and M's growing and changing over a 16 mos. between their ages of 4 and 6 through almost 6 and 8 (C will be 8 in a few mos). So much happens in this short time frame in a child's life. He felt as though his experience as a father through a child's life was complete. To be able to affirm and be witness to all of the changes and stages in any child's life through adulthood is amazing. He now knew what children do and how they are in that "gap" that he had missed.
  He was content in knowing that no matter who's biological child, he had been wholeheartedly involved in every developmental phase children go through from birth to adulthood. His fatherhood was somehow complete.

  I love you...my brother, Gaylynn and my spirited nephews.

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