Adopted War Babe - Part 8

So, I ended with a name. The reason I ended part 7 with a name is because after talking with Patrick's mom, Robin, on Facebook Messenger, she said that since I seemed to look so much like her cousin, Vicki, I had to be part of that branch of the Tackett family. So she showed me a picture of her and then I tried to mimic her expression on the picture.  Then we put my picture and hers next to one another.  Here is the picture:

 I guess you can use your own judgement as to whether we look alike, but I can sure see it!

Now I was getting excited!  Robin said that one of her dad's sisters was the woman who had showed up as my Great Aunt! Then she sent me the picture of her, and it for sure was the same person who had DNA tested as my Great Aunt. Robin then said she was going to text her Uncle Rick. This again begun a flurry of activity!  I suddenly was texting on Facebook messenger with two people at once! Both of them were Tacketts!  (all because of you dear Patrick!)  Uncle Rick was Robin's uncle, but he could possibly be my uncle as well, since Patrick was my second cousin and that would mean his mom was my first cousin. Robin said that she was texting with her uncle and he had said that Russ, my possibly BF, had been in the Army and had been in Germany for a time. He had two sons. She was talking to one of them and he was willing to test!  OMG!!  I am trying so hard not to get my hopes up as I know that this doesn't always prove to be correct, but it just seemed that everything was pointing in the right direction.

I ended up sending a kit to Tim, Russ's son for him to test for me to see if he showed up as my half-brother.  If not, then I am so sure I am in the right family tree, as proven by DNA.  I have developed a relationship with my "uncle rick", who by the way is younger than me. (haha that is so strange but it happens)  We talk now on Marco Polo, a SUPER app for any phone like a video chat but you can watch it over and over or miss one and go back to it. Download it if you don't have it, it's AWESOME!!

So now we wait.  Waiting is hard.   I know that the kit has been sent, but I also know that many were purchased over the holidays because of the reduction in price, so who knows how long it will take.  Hopefully, Ancestry has hired more DNA results testers (or whatever they are called) and it will only be the 6-8 weeks they usually take. I continue to talk and text with Uncle Rick to get to know the family, and them me.  They are actually hoping it is true and are excited as I am, which seems like a miracle to me, really.

Now some of my feelings, thoughts on this DNA testing.
I am reading so much about heartbreak from all the secrets that were kept in the past. I feel so badly for people who have to keep secrets, because it for sure eats away at them from the inside, doesn't it? I feel for my birth mother who kept more than me a secret from her family, her kids, her friends. I mean, life happens, right? Isn't is always best to be honest, especially with those folks you love?  If they quit loving you because of some mistakes and poor life choices from the past, then they aren't really someone who loves you in my opinion.  I found this on Facebook this week and I want to repost it here because I believe it with all my heart:

Another thing I am thinking. Why would anyone who is adopted and had a good life, want to give up their adopted relatives for the blood relatives?  I don't really think that would happen, at least not to me.  My mom is still my mom, my cousins are still my cousins and I still love them more and more each day. I guess I could understand if someone had a really bad experience with adoptive parents, like abuse or something, but I just don't believe that happens often at all. (am I naive?) I think that to adopt a child you have to want that person so desperately in your life, so much more than many children that are born to blood parents, and that just has to be a great thing.

Another thought, what do people WANT when they find a blood relative using DNA?  I guess there are many reasons. Mine is certainly to get to know my roots, where do my genes come from?  Do I have any traits that my blood relatives had or have?  I have always ALWAYS been interested in heredity vs environment, even before I knew I was adopted.  It fascinates me what has the most impact on a life.  I have heard and read about identical twins that were separated at birth being brought up completely differently but once found have hundreds of similarities.  Perhaps that is because they were identical?  What about full brothers and sisters?  Has that resulted in the same findings?

So, what do I want from my DNA relatives?  I want to know them.  I want to know what my BF was like.  I of course want medical information, which I have been told much of it already.  I don't know if I can have a sister relationship with any of my half-brothers, mainly because I have no CLUE what that type of relationship entails!!  I don't want money, I don't want inheritance, I don't want any of that that would go with family, I have that with my family here. It's all I need.  I DO want to be remembered, I DO want to be cared for, just because I am blood.

WHAT IS ONE MORE PERSON IN THIS WORLD WHO CARES FOR YOU JUST BECAUSE YOU ARE BLOOD??   I just don't get it when people reject.

Hope to have a part 10, conclusion with this journey as soon as DNA results are back.