I wanted to take the time to share something very personal and very exciting that happened this last week.

I am turning 29 this year. I was raised all my life knowing that I was adopted. It never bothered me too much - i knew the spiritual and general reasons why, but i always wondered what happened and where i was from. With the rise of the internet in my teens, i began looking on all the sites i could. In attempts to find my birthmother. I posted on forums, looked at registries, paid for potential info from some premium sites and through my adoption agency, all with no luck.

Out of pure curiosity, a few years ago, I did the Ancestry.com DNA test to figure out my genetic ancestry. My father-in-law works for FamilySearch, so he was very curious about the rise of DNA tests in junction with genealogy, and we were all curious where it traced my ancestors. I bought the test after a night of discouragement perusing adoption forums again. But when the test arrived for me to spit in the little jar, i hesitated. As much as i told myself it was just for my DNA ancestry, i knew it would give me DNA matches, too. But i hesitated because i was worried it wouldnt match me, and it'd be another dead end. Buuut i took the test and got the results a while later - no matches closer than 4th cousin, and i'm 73% from the UK.

Then, on 6/24, my wife came to bed -i was on my computer, and she said something about how she and her dad had been talking genealogy and he had asked a question about my test. I didnt know the answer so i logged in. And there was a new match.

“[User name] is your mother.”

I was in complete shock. I showed my wife and she got super excited for me, but i was in disbelief -well, more just absolute shock. I hardly slept that night. The next day, i sent a message through Ancestry. It was a quick “hey, i took the test because i was adopted, it says we're a match - let me know if that could be right” type of thing. I had no clue what to say or what to expect.

But she responded, and we started talking, and sure enough. She's definitely my birth mother. She had taken the test earlier this year because the tests were on sale and, linked to your family tree, helps move genealogy along - her husband was the one who suggested it.

We happen to live within 20 minutes of each other here in Utah, so we met up for lunch last Friday, and caught up. What a surreal experience! I feel very lucky, extremely happy, and mostly, still in shock! Its amazing to me how many similarities we share. Things i figured were learned behavior from my parents now seem like they run in my family - in my genes so to speak. And not just little quirks but big, core interests too.

But my birth mother and mom are very similar people, too.

Anyway - I felt like i should share such happy news! Its a close of a big question mark in my life and the start of a new chapter, for sure.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: PorterN,

Great story! Congratulations.

It's wonderful that it was happy.

Sometimes, it isn't. It is impossible to unring the bell.

My first wife was adopted. I was able to do some tracking in public records, but she and her sister did not want to know, so I dropped the trail.

It took a lot of courage for you to get where you are.

quote:

Originally posted by JALLEN:
It's wonderful that it was happy.

Sometimes, it isn't. It is impossible to unring the bell.

My first wife was adopted. I was able to do some tracking in public records, but she and her sister did not want to know, so I dropped the trail.

It took a lot of courage for you to get where you are.

Entirely not necessary for this particular thread, imho.

Congrats. What a feel good story. Thanks for sharing!

Not a long story at all, what a great outcome, I'm very happy for you.

I'm very glad it worked out and your birth mom was receptive to meeting you. Hopefully you can have a relationship with her. We have a similar story in my family except it was brothers who never met for 73 years. My take is life is short and let bygones be bygones. Your birthmom had reasons for what happened 29 years ago but it was also 29 years ago.

Wow, what a great story. I'm happy it worked out so well. I'm sure it was a wonderful experience.

Happy to hear!
I went through a somewhat similar experience in my mid-20s. Definitely glad for it.

Awesome! So you're saying your birth mother likes HKs too?

My coworker has a very similar story. Years of frustration followed by a happy reunion, this year.
I love stories like this!

Congratulations.

Bruce

Amazing story! Congratulations!

Congratulations.

I'm impressed that the notice didn't just say, "hey, maryann over here might be related to you."

How the heck did the program figure she was YOUR mother.

And, just interesting on the odds that you and your mother would be on the same site and both used the dna kit.

Did she also get the same notification as you did? "Hey, PorterN is your son."

quote:

Originally posted by Rey HRH:
Congratulations.

I'm impressed that the notice didn't just say, "hey, maryann over here might be related to you."

How the heck did the program figure she was YOUR mother.

And, just interesting on the odds that you and your mother would be on the same site and both used the dna kit.

Did she also get the same notification as you did? "Hey, PorterN is your son."

Thats DNA for ya. Its specific enough to tell you exact when its close enough of a relation. The 4th thru 8th cousins get progressively "iffy," for several reasons. But yeah. Evem as popular as Ancestry.com is, its pretty amazing.

She did the test but didnt see the match til i messaged her. Then she saw it said i was her child.

Outstanding! Congratulations!

Congrats.

I'm glad it worked out. By the way, what do your adoptive parents have to say about it?

How cool. I'm super happy for you!

Cool

congrats