The DNA kit was literally dusty by the time Misty decided to take the gift her mother-in-law had given her, open the box, spit in the tube, and potentially change her life forever.
“I was well aware that sending this in could blow everything out of the water,” Misty said and then admitted she wasn’t sure she wanted a change.
She loved her family. She loved her life. She wasn’t unhappy with the opportunities which had been present to her. However, she still wondered why she tanned so easily.
“In high school, my brother’s friends used to say, ‘You are like a blonde Indian.”
Still, golden hair and blue eyes didn’t suggest she would have a biological ancestor from Bangladesh. (Bangladesh and India are South Asian neighbors.)
Three weeks after taking the test, Misty received her results and decided to contact a woman who was the “top match.”
“I wonder if you have an aunt or uncle that might have placed a baby for adoption,” was part of Misty’s message.
Within twenty minutes a reply arrived.
“I’m so excited, I’m shaking right now,” the reply said. “I have been looking for you for a long time.”
I started bawling my eyes out,” Misty said. “I was in contact with someone I’m biologically related to.”
The messages from the biological relative continued. “My uncle was in the United States a long time back and he met your mum and they had a relationship.”
“My mum?” Misty read.
Typo? No, not a typo because in the United Kingdom, “mum” is commonly used to refer to a mother. Misty was conversing with a woman in England.
“You’re on the other side of the earth?” Misty asked. “I finally get to connect with you, and you are thousands of miles away.”
Misty learned she had a grandfather from India and Bangladesh. There were also relatives in Australia, New Zealand, all over England.
The whole concept was so unfathomable, Misty asked for some confirmation. “I thought maybe Ancestry.com messed up.”
The woman on the other end of the conversation took a picture of the photos which had been saved from a social service connection.
“I received my six-month-old baby picture that is still hanging in my adoptive parents’ home,” Misty explained. “They had sent that photo through a social worker to my biological parents.”
For several months, the father and daughter emailed one another. Then Misty and her husband flew to England and had a reunion where she was surrounded by aunts, uncles, and cousins, that were her biological relatives.
“They had always known about my existence,” Misty explained. “This was so fulfilling. My heart just grew three sizes. What helps with that is that my adoptive parents are so supportive. From the very first, they always told me how much they loved me and how much they loved my birth family. I had support from the beginning. That support is a game-changer.”
Through her birth father, Misty has contacted her birth mother who is much closer and actually lives on the same continent.
