For several years after I found out I wasn’t my Dad’s biological daughter, I couldn’t even look at his tree anymore. It was literally a full stop. Seeing all the people I thought I came from genuinely hurt my heart. It was like breaking up with someone you love. I started doing genealogy when I…
I knew that eventually, I had to tell our girls about the secret I had discovered because it also affected them. This was their DNA, too. I had made the decision not to tell my siblings until after my mother had passed away, but I felt the longer I waited to tell the girls,…
I wish I could tell you that now that the ice was broken between Mom and me about who my biological father was, she then shared countless stories about *Joe with me. But she really didn’t. The simple fact was that Mom was embarrassed, and frankly, she didn’t want to talk about it ever again….
“I wasn’t ever going to tell you.” Those were Mom’s first words after I sat down with her and told her what I knew. Her words stung. It was the only time I could remember having a flash of anger towards her. Really?? One year, ten months, and six days after I sat in my…
Surprisingly, I wasn’t anxious to find out who my biological father was because, with every passing day, I felt in my gut that I already knew who it was. I was bouncing all around through those stages of grief, and depression was a big one now. Long-forgotten memories started to slowly become conscious ones. When…
Before I go deeper into the journey of my DNA discovery that my Dad wasn’t my biological father, I want to tell you a little bit more about my Dad. And just to clarify — when I use the word “Dad,” I am always referring to the Dad who raised me and loved me. My…