When I was five months old and living in Eastern Pennsylvania, the man who was my father (Ed Battaglia) took my sisters Alison and Lisa (then aged two and four) out to lunch. In Western Ohio.
Shortly thereafter my mom remarried, and Pat Shea adopted me and became my dad (and made Bridget and Kate my sisters) without my having any idea that I wasn't Irish or German until I was eight, when they broke it down for me in anticipation of their divorce.
As soon as she could, Mom did the dirt and found the Battaglias and I really can't thank her enough, even if Ed did turn out to be a contemptible cretin. Alison and Lisa more than make up for it.
In the meantime, Let me tell you about my mother.
My mother's really quite a remarkable lady. She started by being one of the first ten Superintendents of Schools in Pennsylvania (all while being a Single Mom quite a few years before it was in vogue.)
She went on to become the Director of the San Francisco campus of Heald Business college, and then chucked it all to open a Specialty Seafood company with her husband, Ted Sempliner . They did well enough with that to merge with Pan Pacific Foods. Check it all out. Good stuff.