Found... and lost
Robert’s emotional reunion with his father didn’t turn out quite as he’d dreamt
Sometimes it’s not easy to build a relationship after a lifetime apart and the Long Lost Family reunions don’t always end happily. That’s the case with one of the three stories in this week’s Long Lost Family: What Happened Next.
Almost five years ago, the programme reunited dad-ofthree Robert Lindsay, from Ayrshire, with his father, Mladen Durdevic. Robert’s mum, Mary, had a relationship with Mladen, who was from Croatia, when she was 18.
Losing touch
But when she became pregnant, she returned to her parents’ and Mladen moved back to Croatia. The only contact they had after that was by letter, so Robert was delighted to finally meet his father for the first time.
‘Meeting my dad was very significant,’ says Robert. ‘To have that moment of going, “You’ve got a dad,” was big.’
Robert even took his sons on holiday to Croatia to meet their grandfather. But the realities of living so far apart took their toll and phone calls between father and son became fewer. ‘The biggest challenge was the distance. Being a working parent with three kids, it wasn’t easy to say, “I’m just popping off to Croatia,”’ explains Robert.
Sadly, Robert never got to see his father again. Mladen died suddenly in 2017, but for this week’s episode, Robert’s filmed going back to Croatia to visit his father’s grave.
‘You think you’ve got forever to make up with somebody, but you are always on borrowed time,’ says Robert. ‘I’m so glad that I got to meet my father, but
I regret that things weren’t different.’