As you get older, the importance of family becomes more and more obvious. Growing up, we always saw the cousins, aunts, uncles, etc on my moms side. But never my dads side. We rarely saw anyone from my dads family and I never thought much of it as a kid. My dad would give us little snippets of his childhood and family, but never much.
My dad was informed he was adopted as a baby when he was 25. That's right, 25. It wasn't a sit down kinda conversation. It wasn't a two sided conversation. It was more of a "oh yeah by the way you're adopted" end of story. Frankly, he handled it better than most people I know would've. He's one of the strongest men I know. He never really had an interest in finding his biological family so neither did we. But we're a curious family. I love figuring out HOW things came to be. And as it turns out.. that's a family thing.
Earlier this year in 2023, my dad decided to do Ansestry DNA to see where his roots were. It wasn't as much about finding family members as it was knowing where he came from.. at first. But in a true Hallmark movie fashion, he has living close family members. He has a sister. Who had been looking for him for decades. They were both incredibly timid and careful asking questions to see if they were in fact siblings. Scared to get too excited, they compared DNA. DNA doesn't lie, does it? Scientifically, they were half siblings with a considerate amount of shared DNA. After 60+ years apart, they found each other.
This will definitely have some follow up posts! I plan to interview each of them so they can tell it from their side. My dad had no clue he had family out there looking for him. My newest aunt knew my dad was out there and never gave up searching for him. You hear of this kind of stuff happening, but never expect it to hit so close to home. I feel extremely fortunate I get to share this incredible story about my family. Stay tuned; it'll be worth the read.
"When you're in jail, a good friend will be trying to bail you out. A best friend will be in the cell next to you saying, 'Damn, that was fun.'"
―Groucho Marx
Always here,
Miss. Misunderstood
It has been an amazing experience and I am looking forward to meeting my new sister this weekend…it’s beyond words!
And I’m one of the new cousins! Last fall I learned, also in true Hallmark movie fashion, that my father wasn’t an only child like we thought he was; that he has SIX siblings. It is wild. You‘re on the Gilmore side for us, which is my mother’s side. Your dad and my mother would be first cousins. I’m really looking forward to getting to know you all. I’m already noticing similarities :-).
Well said Kalyn and there will definitely be more to come and many memories Love my new family❤️