I’m waiting on a DNA test! Again!
I’ve been doing a lot of advertising in the area of Highland Springs - Richmond, Virginia, where I come from. I have reached out to former classmates of my mother's, and anyone in the neighborhood who may have known her. I have even had a phone call with a 91 year old man in the community who reached out to me to help! He was a delight. In sharing the details of my story in the neighborhood – I have gotten literally HUNDREDS of responses and leads as to who my father may be.
I’ve been doing a lot of advertising in the area of Highland Springs - Richmond, Virginia, where I come from. I have reached out to former classmates of my mother's, and anyone in the neighborhood who may have known her. I have even had a phone call with a 91 year old man in the community who reached out to me to help! He was a delight. In sharing the details of my story in the neighborhood – I have gotten literally HUNDREDS of responses and leads as to who my father may be.
I saw advertising - putting everything out there in the community with names, dates, locations that I do know - to be a last ditch effort. But maybe this should be the first thing we do in a search? Perhaps we hold back because of fear. It's fear of what people will think. But that shouldn't be a factor in simply trying to discover truth. Truth that belongs to you and me. And the fear is unfounded. It’s
amazing the people who have written, emailed and called me who lived in the
neighborhood at the time (or still do) and actually knew my mother and want to help me.
It was interesting certain last names that kept coming up again
and again. One woman who is related to my maternal family saw one of the
advertisements and reached out to me to try to help. We have never met before.
I sensed right away that I could trust her. I mentioned to her about one of
the last names that kept coming up repeatedly among the leads. She was so excited and said, “Oh my
gosh, that’s my husband’s family!!!” I asked if she thought someone in the
family would DNA test and she said, “absolutely!!!” So, I paid for the test and had it sent and
now we are just waiting. I am hoping for a cousin match.
There are multiple men in this particular family who
could be my father, some dead – and some alive! If a first cousin match comes
back on this test, then I would need to start going through the cousins and
having them test to see which one might be a half-sibling match. The person who
tested believes if it comes to that point, everyone in the family will
cooperate. We will see!
The two cousins I have spoken to are very excited about this
and think others will be too. Of course you never know when you get right up on
the moment, but I have faith. There are caring people out there. I find this out
in searching, all the time. As many roadblocks as you face, you also meet so
many kind souls that are willing to do anything to help another person. Sadly, many of them will immediately reach out to do more than your own family!
So here's a word for those of you who are running into obstacles. We are all familiar with these challenges if we've been searching for very long. Obstacles are generally "secret keepers" who feel it is their mission to protect what should never be protected. (They protect/conceal truth of who you are and where you come from.) People who even go as far to try to protect the dead in some fashion. Have you ever heard of anything so bizarre? Well here's the thing -- for as many of those secret keepers that are out there, there are even more kind souls with open hearts who will do anything to help. Find them! Keep going. Whatever you do - do not quit!
I’ve been
through this so many times before, so I am trying to guard my own heart and keep it from breaking again if it's not a DNA match. And yet it's hard to not be excited about the possibility. So I consider what I will do in the event that it's not a match...
What will I do? PRESS ON. I will
never give up and will advertise even more. A few months ago I was so discouraged and said
I didn’t know if I could do this again. My heart was shattered in pieces when the last DNA test came back not a match. There was a family in Virginia who sent me pictures at Christmas and said the only thing missing was me. They were already planning our vacation together in Gatlinburg. (No, I am not kidding.) They cried as hard as I did when the test came back not a match. In my lowest moment of bawling over this non-match, my husband looked
at me and said, “You don't mean this that you are quitting. I know you. You will keep on. That’s who you are." He was right.
And I say this to any of you who are waiting for breakthrough in your own search and discouraged
– I understand. But don’t give up. Press on. People are finding their truth all the time. And DNA is yielding more results every single day. Millions more are testing and every day holds the possibility of a match! And by the way, if you haven't already tested or uploaded your raw DNA to myheritage.com, do it today! I did and have many new matches I am working through. So far I don't have any close ones, but nevertheless I have some new ones.
Everybody pray hard! I may just have a reunion coming up,
after 50 (count ‘em 50) years!!! In a few months I could be taking a train to meet
family.
I will never lose hope.
Don't you lose hope, either.
We got this.
