The New York Whirlwind

Things have finally settled a bit and I feel comfortable about posting about my New York crazy experience...

If you've watched the news at all several weeks ago, I'm sure you've seen the story of the 'Michigan Man Claiming to be Missing Boy from 1955'. There are over 1600 articles on the internet about this story. It's been on FOX, CNN, NBC, ABC, the local news...it was everywhere. It so happens this story hits home as the missing boy is my mother's brother, my uncle.

There was an ongoing FBI investigation into the case when a source came forward to a newspaper reporter and leaked the story. That's when ALL HELL BROKE LOOSE. For the first day and a half we received hundreds and hundreds of phone calls from reporters as well as people knocking down our door. We released no statements due to the pending FBI investigation as we did not want to compromise the case.

We then received a call from the attorney stating that we were heading to New York and a car would be by to pick us up in 3 hours. The reason for this is because there was a family member that knew nothing of the case that was on his way there so we needed to be there for damage control. It was not our idea or our wish to go, but we had to go. Needless to say, I did not have time to come home to grab anything so I had to run by the store to grab everything I would need for the trip. All while fielding nonstop phone calls.

An NBC producer met us with a car and whisked us away to the airport, barely catching our flight. We arrived at the Essex House, right across from Central Park, around 11pm and got to bed around 3 am to get 2 hours of sleep. Then it was off to the Today Show.

As I wait in the green room for mom to have her make-up and hair done, I rubbed elbows with Howard Dean who is also in the green room. As they get ready to tape, I'm taken to the studio to view behind the scenes. Meredith Vieira interviewed mom. Here's a picture of Meredith waving behind the camera.
I was also able to snap a (not so good pic) of Natalie Morales and David Gregory, (Matt Lauer was on vacation).

Below is a pic of us trying to dodge the paparazzi leaving the studio. What a mess.

Immediately after the Today show, we were taken to Good Morning America. We were whisked into the studio after a sound check and met up with Robin Roberts. OMG...she is gorgeous and so very kind. She spoke with mom to make her feel relaxed and comfortable and even gave me a wave and commented on my necklace on how no one is to have a better necklace than she. And then she said she wanted my shoes as well!

After the taping, I asked if I could snap a picture and she was a doll. She suggested I get behind the news desk and sit in Diane Sawyer's seat, so of course I did!

Then she wanted to know if she could sit with me at the news desk to have her picture taken. Of course! OMG!

They knew how much I love GMA so they took us downstairs where I met Chris Cuomo. Actually took a pic with him that didn't turn out, but baby oh baby, I had my hand behind his back. Mmm.Mmm.Mmm...Next they took us into the downstairs studio where Diane, Robin, Chris and Sam were. They are watching a Father's Day piece taped by Chris's children:

Gail King (Oprah's best friend) was also there finishing up a segment. I didn't speak with her, but got a very quick (bad) snap of her as well. She's in between the two blondies:
Diane then came up to us, shook my hand, snapped a picture and wished us well on the pending case and hoped for the best.

I loved GMA. They were all so kind.
We then drove back to the Today show where we picked up my brother and stepped out on the Plaza.

Then we were driven to the other side of town where mom taped with Dateline. They interviewed my mother and Hoda Kotb was kind enough to snap a picture with us as well. I let everyone know I knew I was being a total dork, but FOR REAL, who ever gets this sort of chance?

Everything was such a whirlwind. Our spirits were so high thinking things were going to turn out as we had hoped.

Then we received the news from the attorney that this Michigan man was not my mother's brother. At this point, our hearts deflated. The story got even more crazy and we had reporters raiding the hotel and even calling our room.

***I want everyone to be aware, all of these pictures were taken before we were notified this man was not my mother's missing brother.

Although the outcome was not as we had hoped and this Michigan man is not my uncle, I hope, for my mom's sake, one day we will have some resolution to what really happened to her brother.