I am adopted. I have known this since I could read a book called ‘Why I am adopted.’ Never really thought much about this as I had a typical childhood or so I thought with my brother David who was adopted two years after me. As a teenager I started to air my independence making mistakes, learning from them but beginning to struggle to find the right connection with my adoptive parents. My brother and I have always had a bond, still do today and for this I am eternally grateful – he is such a love!
Fast forward to March 2012 – the year I was still in my 40’s but due to years of high impact exercise including running, triathlons, gymnastics, competitive twirling, etc. I needed a hip replacement. This was an amazing month where the temperature in the suburbs of Chicago hovered almost daily in the 70’s and 80’s so sitting outside while recuperating was inevitable. A book about Steve Jobs was recently released at the same time the first iPad so being a new Apple fan, this was my book of choice. For many of you who may have also read his book, there were several times in the book where the biographer mentioned the ‘gap’ that Steve felt in his life because he was also adopted. For me, I didn’t sense this same ‘gap’ that Steve felt. My life after college and a few years into the working world started to be filled by my incredible husband, our four children and my amazing in-laws. So at the time as I am reading his book, his feelings of being rejected by being adopted just didn’t connect with me.
In October of 2014, I met a couple at a local fundraiser who shared their experience with 23andme, a DNA genetic testing site where you use a home collection kit to submit your DNA sample. This sounded quite interesting especially about getting FDA approval for different medical reports. My overall health was pretty good – the question was how long will it last? So in late 2015 after sending in my home kit saliva test, I started to receive the health reports, more insight on where my ancestors were from – both Irish and English it seems, and how much DNA that I shared with others who took the test. It also tells you how much of your history can be traced back to the Neanderthals – the joke from my husband is the .0001% is good enough to say I am from these ancient humans – I don’t think so! haha! Overall the 23andme got me to around 2nd to 3rd cousin. By doing this and allowing others to see my DNA info, I began to receive a few messages asking me about my history of which I had nothing to share at this point. I suppose this is what prompted me to continue my ancestor search. So I took advantage of a special by Ancestry.com mid-2016 to see if there was any more info that I wasn’t seeing from 23andme and what I found was a similar DNA match but even farther out – more like 3rd to 5th cousin. As many of you reading this blog, you realize that life takes many twists and turns – many of which you have no idea what is coming but you try to prepare as best you can. There is nothing better to me than an investigative challenge, but to do this part time I knew I wasn’t going to get very far. So I had resigned myself to continue reading those medical reports to see if I have traces in my DNA for late onset Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s disease and every so often reading the messages that I get from others asking if I can share any history.
If my story has you wondering what is next, please read my next post…