Happy Birthday, Paul!
Hello All,
Today is the real Paul Fronczak"s birthday. A day I celebrated as my own for 52 years. That all changed in 2015, when I found out I wasn't really Paul Fronczak. I made a promise to Barbara Walters when we were shooting one of my episodes of 20/20, that when I found the real Paul, I would give him his birth certificate, and then claim my own, announcing the birth of Jack Thomas Rosenthal. When we finally found the real Paul Fronczak in 2019, I sent him his real birth certificate, and that is when I stopped celebrating April 26th as my birthday.
It felt strange today, as Paul's birthday slowly slipped away... Paul Passed away a day before his birthday in 2020. I felt a certain uneasiness today. Then, at 11:45 am, my daughter Emma's mom texted me " get to Emma's school and get her, there is someone with a gun on campus!". Those are words you never want to hear regarding your child and their school. I raced to her school and found utter chaos. Parents walking around in circles and students running through the campus parking lot. I didn't see any police, but I knew I had to get Emma, now! I just walked through the crowd and entered the office. I signed her out and waited for her to come to me. The school would not release her without me showing ID and doing the proper paperwork. When Emma finally came to me, she was shaken up and had tears in her eyes. She said "Dad, I love you and I am so thankful you're here. Please get me out of here, now!" Turn's out that some student was airdropping pictures of a gun he had and that something was going down on campus today. I am so thankful nothing happened and that I had Emma with me, safe.
The irony is that, I was trying to get past this day, Paul's birthday, my old birthday, with ease and happiness. After today's events, Paul's birthday will now be associated with the day Emma had to leave school due to a possible active shooter on campus. I guess this day was just meant to be a part of my life, forever! Maybe that's not a bad thing... I have had three birthdays in my life, so far. Scott McKinley was April 15, Paul was April 26th, and my real birthday is October 27th.
So, for Paul's birthday, I would like to ask everyone out there to hug a loved one, tell someone you love them, be kind to someone... make this day special, and everyday going forward. Tomorrow is never promised, but we have right now to make a difference!
Thank you for being here... More to come!
