DNA Tests and Life’s Surprises

Be careful with all the new commercial DNA testing companies luring you to come on board. You might learn more than you bargain for.

My daughter joined Ancestry.com to learn family history. Searching on her father’s side was interesting. She is still connecting with cousins and other ancestors in Poland. There are also many other relatives scattered around the country and all over the world.

The surprise was on my side of the family. Ancestry connected her with a man that they identified as her closest relative, besides her father. During conversations with this newfound relative, I learned that he was my brother. The father who raised me, it turns out, was not my biological father.

I remembered a conversation that I overheard when my parents were arguing, when I was very young, that brought it all back.

I was raised with four brothers, an only girl. My newfound family had four girls and only one boy. Growing up, I loved my brothers dearly, but always wished for sisters. What a surprise to learn that I have an abundance of sisters.

I traveled to South Carolina to meet my new family and loved them all instantly. It was a wonderful reunion. I felt as if I had known them all my life.

One sister I never got to meet. She passed away several years ago. The other three sisters and a brother are exactly who I would choose to add to my family if I could choose from all the people in the universe.

I remember bits and pieces of the man that I now know was my biological father. I can recall him being around from time to time when I was very young.

One of my sisters divulged that she knew about me. Her mother had shared with her, before she died, that their father had another daughter. My sister said since they did not know my name or where I was. She never told her siblings or anyone else.

All of my life people constantly talked about how my brothers all looked alike but I was completely different. I did not resemble anyone in the family. Now I guess I know why.

I look more like my new family. I have enjoyed sharing the few memories that I have of the man who was our father with them. It has also been interesting to listen to their stories and get to know them and the father we shared.

There are so many unanswered questions that I wish my Mother was still here to answer. My father who raised me has one younger sister who is still alive. I went to visit her, full of anticipation of what she might be able to share. She was as shocked as everyone else. She knew the man who was my biological father, but she had no idea that he was my father.

Older cousins that I thought might have some knowledge, are shocked and have no information to share. Their parents, my aunts and uncles, never breathed a word.

The tiny little town where I was born was good at keeping secrets, obviously. Nobody, as far as we can find, ever suspected anything unusual. If they did, they never talked about it.

Perhaps it is better that all the folks involved are already gone. It might have been painful for them to relive the past. It had to be difficult for everyone.

I feel so very blessed. Perhaps my mother would have chosen a different path if this had happened in 1973. It certainly would have made her life simpler, I am sure.

I have an abundance of loving family members. I regret we do not have more years to spend together and that it took so long to find each other. But I am looking forward to spending more time with them and getting to know each one of them better.

Life is good and it keeps getting better.