The 2nd anniversary of the Christmas gift that changed my family forever
My wife had bought it for me already and usually they coordinate gifts, but mom's was opened first...wife was pissed for some reason...
Well, something was worming its way into her mind, and she was unconsciously fighting it
When we received the book from GMA, that page was torn out 😐
This has been the source of animosity between them for ever
Mrs P is quiet the entire drive home, and upon entering our house, she says, " you know,maybe I could use the extra DNA kit, who knows, maybe I'll find my dad lol"
Not likely, but you never know
I procrastinated a few weeks longer than she did, but I sent mine first.
Her box sat on our side table by the from door for a month
She was terrified
40 years of not knowing and there in the box on the table was a possible chance to finally know who her dad is. I thought she'd be more excited, not scared...
I was wrong
What if he's a dick?
What if he's a rapist?
What if he's a bum?
What if he's rich?
What if he's dead?
And worst of all, what if he's alive and just doesn't care
Lots of conflicting feels
But finally, two months later, she found the courage
She's hoping a name will jump out of her memory of that one torn out baby book page with a first name she almost can grasp...nope
The first names didn't jog a memory, but a funny thing happened...
That's weird, we both thought, the last name wasn't any we recognized, but now that she started, she wasn't giving up.
She emailed all of the top names with a simple query:
I recently took the Ancestry test and do not know who my father is. The results show a lot of people with your last name associated with my DNA and I hope you may have some clues as to why. I hope you can help.
And she sent it to each person with the associated DNA
She needed to check in with family first, but she thinks she knows who her father may be.
They exchanged numbers, gathered photos, and met for lunch (she lives less than a mile from Mrs P's work, small fucking world, right?)
Nothing nefarious fwiw...although my wife's crazy mom factors in plenty 😬
Y'all, they were fucking twins 50 years separated... uncanny
This is definitely her family 🤗
I went with, both as a comforting presence, but also to help remember things said, and to contextualize it for her, her emotions were runningwild
He's a great fucking guy
Totes ackward first dinner to be sure, but Mrs P didn't fuck around with the questions of her origin as she didn't know if this was their last meeting. It wasn't 😁
It was bizarre, and awesome, and uncomfortable, and fun, and on top of it, the rest of the family is awesome too! 🎉
Peas and carrots
She found her peeps 🤗
Her father was into politics and hated Trump, we hit it off immediately as you can imagine 🤣
...and then surreal turned it up a notch. We get the call last month. He collapsed, heart stopped, rushed to ER...
He passed away at 63 😭
WHAT CRUEL FUCKING JOKE IS THIS?
What. The. Fuck?!
"This is so unfair, this is bullshit, what the fuck!" We yell and cry and mutter
Most of all...."why?"
But we do know that my amazing wife got #593days with her "pop" that she never would've had if she didn't try.
We have a whole new family that has welcomed us into their homes as if we were always there.
We packed a lot of time together in those short amount of days
Befuddled at the circumstances and thankful we were able to be a part of their family while he was alive.
My wife was able to answer almost all of her 40 years of wondering questions
She now has a bonus mom 💕 two brothers & a sister
I don't know if there is a point to this thread other than I needed to share both the joy and heartbreak of the best Christmas gift I ever received
Also, enjoy the time you have with your family, you never really know how long you have them 💕
The reason she didn't recognize the names from her results.
Her father goes by his middle name and all of his official public records use his legal first name. The middle name was in the baby book. It wouldn't have helped