Have you ever thought about what it would be like to meet a sibling for the first time after decades apart?

In this heartfelt episode of Family Twist, we delve into the incredible story of Michelle and Trish, two sisters who found each other after 48 years apart. Their reunion story not only touches on the emotional first meeting but also explores the complex tapestry of family dynamics and the powerful role of DNA technology in reuniting long-lost relatives.

NPEs: Sisters Selling Vegas

Listeners will gain valuable insights from this episode:

• Experience the profound emotional impact of reuniting with a long-lost family member.
• Understand the crucial role of DNA testing in uncovering hidden family connections and the surprising results it can yield.
• Explore the dynamics of newly discovered relationships and the blend of joy and complexity they bring into life.

Join us to hear Michelle and Trish share their remarkable journey of connection and discovery—proof that sometimes, reality can be as dramatic as any fiction.

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Welcome to Family Twist, a podcast about relatively unusual stories of long lost families, adoption, and lots of drama. I'm Corey. And I'm Kendall, and we've been partners for over 16 years. We're very excited about this episode because there are some parallels to Kendall's journey. And we want to introduce our sisters, Michelle and Trish. Thank you for joining us today. Good morning. Yes, thank you for having us. Now, it was a...

48 year journey for you two finding each other, correct? Yes. Before we get into the story, I just kind of want to know to kick things off. What was that first face to face meeting like seeing your sister for the first time in the flesh? Yeah, I invited Michelle to lunch after we chatted online and I checked her out on Facebook. I invited her to lunch and I got there first, I was sitting in the booth. It was that feeling that you have, you know, the night before the first day at school or like,

just sat in front of me, you know, because she has his eyes, same color hair, you know, I mean, there's so many things about her that looks just like our dad. It was like seeing a ghost. And then, I mean, I'm like, yeah, that's my sister. She's proof. She's living proof. It was pretty crazy. Same. I had butterflies too. You know, I didn't know what to expect. I was super excited to meet her and she was really sweet and invited me to lunch. So I sat down and looked at her. I was just like, wow.

I could tell she was my sister. I could just tell. We started talking and we like literally 48 years of catching up in like two hours. So we were talking about everything. We didn't even take a picture of us. That day we got back to our families and they're like, okay, let's see. And we're like, yeah, we got nothing. No picture. We were so busy catching up. No photo. Yeah. We take way too many selfies, but that's okay. You two are in Vegas, but let's...

rewind going back to California. Yeah, I kind of had a really crazy road on my mom had me and she had five kids all together. I'm number four, all from different fathers. Luckily, my brother Michael was close to me. He's two years apart. So we were we were we went through everything together. Everything that I went through, he went through the same time. So we were taken away from my mom when I was six months old. What we think happened is that.

stepping back a little bit further is that our dad, which is Trisha and I's dad, was with Trisha's mom and she was pregnant. And then he somehow simultaneously met my mom, stepped out, got her pregnant, but then went right back to her mom. So there was, he was never in my picture period. You know, we never knew about him. So I was born and so my mom was the match.

My mom was like a mental train wreck, I guess. She was like not even capable of caring for himself. Luckily, we saw like some crazy things going on and reported it. So we were taken away from her when I was six months old. She would visit us. We were in like foster care, orphanage, you know, all that kind of stuff. And both Michael and I, and then we were finally adoptable at like, you know, age four because she was, they gave her time to get her stuff together. She couldn't.

So we finally went to live with an adoptive family when I was about almost four and they later, three years later ended up adopting us. So I never knew anything about that ever. And I kind of knew my mom when I was a baby, but nothing really. And so that's how my upbringing started. And then I just grew up in this cute little Jewish adoptive family, which is wonderful, but it was different, right? Kendall, I mean, it's amazing and you're blessed, but at the same time.

Like who are my people? You know? And so you wonder. Did you remember that you had other siblings other than your brother? You mean because I was one of five? Okay. So oddly enough, no, because my older two were much older than I. They were like 19 and 20 when I was born. And then I was number four. But crazy story. One day we were like, my brother Michael is two years older than me. So he had two years with them where I didn't. I was.

six months and then taken away. So he had a little bit more memory. And so one day when I was about six and Michael was about eight, we were walking home from school at our adoptive family's house. And we passed by this gentleman. Like we walked by him, he walked by us and Michael turned around and he turned around. And he goes, Michael, Michelle, who's our brother. And...

We literally just passed him walking home. And so we told him, he's like, where are you guys living now? And we were so little, but Michael said, oh, we're over here, come on. And he brought him home to our adoptive family. And my adoptive family was like a little bit freaking out because this was a link to our birth mom. And they of course didn't want them to know anything about where we were and our location. And so he swore to see Griffey and he never did tell we don't think, but we got pictures with him that day and.

They just remembered each other. Michael and Jack was his name. And so that was kind of cool. So we got to meet him, but he ended up passing away like maybe a year later. And then my older sister passed away. They each died when they were 20 and 21. And so I don't think I ever met my older sister and then my older brother. I just remember that one interaction and that was really it. And then I have a little sister who got adopted to another family and that's a whole nother story. Craziness.

That's the name of our podcast is Family Twist. And it's, yeah, because every family's got one. Right. It's awesome. I love that name, by the way. That's so cool. And I love that you guys are doing this. So neat. We love it. Yeah. It's giving us an opportunity, not just to share Kendall's story, but to share other people's stories and just kind of figure out like, how did you navigate this? Cause we don't always feel like we did everything the right way. I mean, not every, it's gonna, it's gonna.

move all the way across the country after being with her. So awesome. You guys. So awesome. So Kendall, you and your dad and your mom, you now have a relationship. I have never met my birth mother. I've never spoken to her. She has one other son and two daughters and my half brother on that side, we text mainly around birthdays, but.

And I am close to my sisters. In fact, the sister that's right under me in age, she's coming out this month, going to stay with us for a week. And we're, I don't know if people ever say like soulmates for siblings, but I mean, she and they really connect. It's just, it's kind of bizarre. It's just, it's beautiful to witness, to like to stand back and see this happen. It's been a few years now, but it's still, I might get a little bit choked up because it's just a C.

this bond that they have and you know, they've been able to spend weekends and weeks together, you know, here and there, but probably only what, maybe five or six times. Yeah. They're just, just, their eyes just light up when they're in the room together and it's great. And we do physically favor, you know, she is not bald. Oh, thank God. Exactly for her. But no, I mean, she, we do favor and it's so cool to like.

You know, watch each other and we pick up on things. It's just, you know, it's kind of amazing. Trish, while this was happening for Michelle in California, what was life like for you and where were you? Yeah. So I grew up with my mom and my dad. And I had two brothers, one a year older and one a year younger. So we were all very close in age, like one, two, and three. And we, both of my brothers were born in California. I was born in Michigan and I never knew why until.

All of this came about, but yeah, so we lived in Southern California with my family. And then we moved around a little bit, you know, but always with my dad and my mom and my two brothers. So I never knew that there was anybody else and I wasn't searching for anybody. You know, I never, I know that I always wanted a sister, always wanted a sister, but I never thought that was ever going to be a reality, you know? So I grew up with my two brothers and my mom and dad. And that's what I knew.

How did we get from that to the DNA test? So when I was 21, a brother reached out and located our dad. His name is Ken Foster. So I met him when I was 21. And I think he was a couple of years older than me. And I met him briefly. And then he just went away or went back to wherever he came from. Did your dad even know that son was out there? Yeah. So that's how I met him. He was at my dad's house. And then...

That's when I met him and found out that I had a brother. I'm like, okay. Well, to be perfectly honest, when I was 21, I wasn't real receptive to a sibling. That's how I met the first brother. And then we never spoke ever again. You know, I'm like, oh, you're not my brother. And I was 21 and immature. Chris, were your parents still together when you met Ken? They were divorced. Yeah. They divorced when I was 14. Okay. Was 21 when you found out that there was even...

I have sibling that was the first inkling that any that it's happened existed. That's that's right. Yeah. And I was kind of upset with my dad. You know, it was like total mixed feelings. Like I wasn't I didn't know how to react. Was a possibility of there being more? No, I never ever asked. I never imagined it. I never wanted to even think about it. Right. You know, because I grew up with my mom and dad who were married and together and happy, we thought, you know. Yeah, I never even imagined it.

And so I went on with my happy little life and you know, pretty much and without ever even questioning it. Michelle, did you start looking for possible siblings before the advent of, you know, affordable DNA technology? I did. Yes. You know, kind of throughout my life, I always wondered, you know, and thought that there has to be somebody out there, but like Kendall, nobody ever came looking, you know, and I was like, well, I mean,

though there must be somebody out there, am I the only one that's like wondering or you know, it was a little bit sad, like where are they? Don't they wonder about me? And so you just shelf it for a while, you know, because you have to move on with your life and your, you know, great feelings and positive feelings rather than negativity. And so you'd go a few years and then maybe something would trigger, oh no, let's try again. But I didn't know much, like Kendall's birth name, he had a

a little bit more to go on. My mom, first mom, used a ton of like aliases, like so I was looking for one name where it was really this name and so that was rough. But I will tell you that my little sister, the youngest one, so sibling five from my mom, who was also scooped up and adopted to another family, by that time, my mom had lost all five children because two, the older two were packed away, Michael and I were taken.

And now Joanie, the youngest, was taken from her immediately when she had her. So super sad for my mom, I would imagine. But because she loved us, she was like not okay. It wasn't bad feelings toward us, she just didn't have it together. She just couldn't mentally, for whatever reason, I don't know, but she couldn't just keep together. But she did love us. When she was in the court fighting for Joanie, which is child number five, she said in a court of law, I hope when she's old enough, she can be the looks for me.

And because of that statement in the court, my younger sister's file was now open so she could find out anything she wanted to about our mom. But I didn't know her. I didn't know my sister either. So when I met my little sister, Tony, for the first time, which is when I was like 30, she told me that and she's like, let's, you know, kind of try to find her. Well, she had, our mom had just passed away like within a year of us finding each other. So that, that book is shut. And so that will never be, and that's okay. I then.

went on because I was 30 then and Joey and I didn't really connect in the way that Trish and I do. Like right Kendall, you've got a few siblings and there's your soulmate and then there's ones that are just your half sister, you know, or your half brother. And so that's how it was for Joey and I. Like I immediately, because I'm just a big soul and I have a big heart and I was immediately like, sister, I love you, you know, and it's why is it reciprocated at all? So that...

That didn't work out the way I planned. So that was a blow also, right? It was my first ever finding of anything. And so I just kind of totally shelved it for a while. And so I, it's just not ever going to be. Fast forward, I guess 18 years, cause I was 30 then. So 48, I was dropping off my son to college in Michigan. We were setting up his dorm and everything. And this one trip, everybody was on the head back and you know, do some final details. I was just.

You know, tired and I thought I was going to hang back here. So I just kicked my feet up and the TVR was just chilling, you know, and on came an ancestry commercial. And I thought, you know what, I spent a few years on the big girl. I'm okay. I brushed my wounds off and see what we can figure out here. So I did it. And life changing. Lo and behold, I had no idea what to expect. And, um, craziness. I get the website. I load my 12 -mile picture.

And then all of a sudden in one day, boom, all these matches. And I'm like, what in the world are all these people? I didn't know. I kind of tried to start dissecting through the website. I figured that Ken Foster, who my sister just told you about, that called and met her or them at her age, 21, he came onto my site, was the highest DNA match. And so I thought, okay, that could be a pretty good link. So I reached out to him through the website.

easy. So I really, really my very first, you know, interaction. And anyway, he wrote me right back and he said, Hey, does the name Lee Morgan mean anything to you? And it didn't cause I was adopted. And I said, no, I'm sorry. And for a while, there's a time when you said you were born and where you said you were born. He was in that area at that time. And he's my father. I think he's your father as well. And he said, welcome to the family, sis. I felt welcome. We talked very little bit through the website, messenger, whatever.

And then he said, I think our sister Dawn has some more information because we have another sister back East. So he put me in connection with her. I was catching her a little bit. And then one of them said, wait a second, it shows her on the site, you're in Las Vegas. And I said, yeah. And they said, there's three more of us out there. I was like, you have to be kidding me. I live in Vegas. Wait, they're here? What? Whoa. And yeah. So she linked me to Trish.

And Michelle, when did you go to Vegas? 1994. You raised your kids in Vegas. Both of you. Yes, both. Lauren and I were raised in Vegas. That's the part I find very remarkable. Somehow they were in high school together at the same time. Yes. The reason we're so different is we were both pregnant at age 29 for the first time together. We were both pregnant at the same exact time. So we have our oldest child, you know, they're the same age. She has her son Justin. I have my daughter Jessica.

And yeah, and then they ended up both going, you know, to the, there's a lot of high schools in Las Vegas, you know, and they ended up both going to the same high school, Coronado high school and graduating the same year. And we were at the same graduation. We found that out at that first lunch. And when we were just, you know, we couldn't believe it. Like we probably could have passed each other, parked by each other, you know, we're in the bathroom together. I mean, who knows? Both enough pictures from the graduation.

Same graduation, same time at just different angles and show each other like, wow. That was kind of, that was trippy when we learned that we were at, you know, cause we started like thinking where were we? Same times, where did we work? You know, we tried to kind of, but that was the biggest one that we could put together that we were, we pick pointed. What do the kids think? Yeah.

Well, funny thing is my whole family, I have four children and Jessica's my oldest. And once I told them all about, you know, finding a sister, the, everyone else was pretty okay with it. All the other kids and my husband, but the oldest Jessica was pretty weary. She's like, and that sounds fishy. I don't know, mom, be careful. You know, just worrying about me. And then the same thing and the same child happened with Michelle, right? Yeah. Justin.

Everybody was like, Oh my gosh, mom, I'm so happy for you. When I first started telling them and they were so excited except for Justin. He's like, really mom, a sister, you know, super protective and they're our old itch. So they've known us the longest of all our kids and they love us and they don't want to see us hurt. And so they were Larry. Yes. But then when they met my sister, all of them, they were like, okay, she's okay. Cause you don't know.

They think, you know, what do they want? Are they after something? I mean, who doesn't know? And so when they met her and see how similar she was to me, it's just an extension of me. It's my sister. I love her. We love Antrish. Yeah. What kind of similarities have you discovered? We fit together like a puzzle. Yeah, literally. We finish each other's sentences. We wear the same size shoe.

Yeah. We see the same thing at the same time. Oh, we need similarities. We're both old and we'll put up on the edge as far as rules go. Like we don't like to be told what to do. You know, like, okay, you guys are all going over there. We're going to go, we're going to try this way, you know? We're, you know, so what else, sister? We are both rebels totally. Yeah. We're big time rebels. We're literally the same person. We have a lot of where we're not similar in certain things, you know, we have our own things.

But there's so many that were identical. Like we, like literally the other day we were talking to our brother on the phone and we were on speaker and he said, you know, no, bye sisters. We'll see you later. And then we just both said, bye. Like in the exact same tone at the exact time. That's like, we were singing a song together. Like, but we do that all the time. When we both noticed, we're like, oh my gosh. Yeah. And my, almost.

almost daily, we'll say something about something random at the exact same time. It's crazy. It's like, we have a mental, I mean, we're not twins, but we're only five months apart. And so we're super honed in on each other. And it's crazy. It's so insane. Yeah. We're, we're so similar. We both have really big hearts. We like to give. We both love kids. We're, you know, similar parenting styles and.

Just good people, you know, it's the same. It's amazing. Talk a little bit about the real estate connection and how this healthy sister selling Vegas was born. So I went to school. I had just finished a real estate school. I went with a friend of mine and then we met and she's been a realtor for 25 years here in Las Vegas. So it was like the stars were aligning and preparing me for what was my next step, you know, because.

I went to school and I'm like, ah, I don't know if it's for me. I really don't, you know, I interviewed some brokers and it seems like I, I don't know, I really didn't like any of them or they can get with any of them. And I wasn't sure how, what my next step was. And then I met my sister and then there's my next step, right sister? And I said, sister. So she, before I ever Facebook messenger with the wave, she had, like she said, she looked me up, you know,

And so she knew I was in real estate. So in our first conversation, she was like, oh, so I see your realtor. And I said, yes. And it's, you know, like forever here. It's what I do. And, and I asked her what you, what she did. And she told me she just finished. So I kind of had that in my mind that she had just went to school. So when we met, I wanted to know more about that. Like, are you pursuing it? What are you doing? You know, because I know this business in and out. And I knew that if that was a direction she wanted to go still.

that I was going to help her. She said that she went to school with her best friend. And during real estate school, they teach you to go after, like to market your sphere of influence, your people, your friends, your family. And they had the same sphere, her and her friends. And so she was so sweet, she bowed out to let her friend go. And so as not to get in her way and not to infringe on her ability to succeed.

So sweet and so selfless and so I was like, wow, you know, that is amazing, but you're kind of over here with me. So we're not going to impede on her. You know, let's we'll let her work. Your guys is severe. We've got our own thing going on over here. And so I just took her under my wing and we just went and we it's we've never looked back and she's amazing. She's a really good realtor. She she's taken. I've been able to give her my 25 years like in a year, like a crash course and just so she's amazing.

And we're sister -selling Vegas. We do commercial, we do residential, we help the entire Valley. People love our story. They inevitably find out about it somehow, some way, and now it's on the news and now it's kind of everywhere. So now they really know. But even at the beginning, somehow, some way they would just find out. Like they would say something like, who's older or something to the effect of like sisterly. And we would just, it would come out like, wow, we actually just met, you know?

Well, they would talk about like, oh, that what did you guys do growing up or some sort of question about how it was in our house? And we're like, what house? We're in different houses. We actually just met and then they can believe it and then they want to know more. And then there are clients for life and friends for life. And so it's been an amazing, it's been an amazing partnership in every way. Everybody loves our story and we're grateful to share it. It's an awesome story.

Hello. I hope you're enjoying this conversation with Michelle and Trish. Kendall and I can't believe we're already up to episode 13 of the Family Twist podcast. And we'd like to ask a quick favor. Take a look at your phone and go ahead and give us a rating if you haven't already. We'd love five stars if you feel it's that good. Ratings help podcast platforms decide how many people see the different podcasts available. So a review would really be doing us a favor.

Okay, now back to the episode. Thanks. I am curious, Michelle, are you still close with Michael? So close, yes. We just talked yesterday. He's my only blood relative that is ever up until, you know, very recently when I met my sister. So we're really close. But what's really bad for me is that when I did this a couple years ago, I could see in him a little hurt because we were all we had.

And now I've got all this and where they're all my new family, they're his family. Because he's through my mom and my sister's through my dad. And so he right away did his ancestry and nothing. So that was a little hurtful, but yeah, Michael and I are very close. I love him. He's amazing. We were two kids, to be a little tidbit. We have been in some paperwork that always traveled with us, from foster homes to foster homes, that we were clearly retarded and mental and...

all kinds of things that we were just kind of written off. And so he has gone on to the military and retired as a full retirement from the military. He did amazing. He's also a retired firefighter. He's, he's amazing. So I'm super, super proud of him. He's an American hero. Yeah. And he's amazing. Yeah. He's a person. He's super good. Well, you know, and I love that, you know, that Frish says that about him too. And that's what I found in my family.

is that when my mother's daughter visited the first time, she connected so well with my dad's son. You know what I mean? And it was just fun. You know, I have a lovely picture of them in our kitchen. You know, when I, when the first time we were all together, it was just amazing. And, and they're, you know, they are friends on Facebook. And it's through you, you're the link and they both love you. And so that other person must be amazing and awesome too. And so they give them a shot where they...

may not have elsewhere. And so it's all new connections, all blessings, so many blessings. Yeah. So when we first met, Michael, I was like a little like concerned or worried about how he was going to take me because I know how close, you know, that him and Michelle were. And here I am, like coming right in between or it may seem, you know, or and so I was a little worried about how he was going to take me or if he was going to like me or.

You know, I didn't know. He loves you sister. Yeah, he loves me. He loves me. First he was like, I don't know about you, but now he loves me. He does. Up here. Yeah. Amazing. And I was the same way about my sister's mom because my, because if you think about how it all happened, our dad stepped out on her to go with my mom. And so I'm the result of that. You know, of course I had nothing to do with it, but.

I feel a little, you know, responsibility there, I guess. I shouldn't. I know I shouldn't, but I do. I'm a human being, you know? And she was amazing when I first met her. She like took my shoulders and she said, Michelle, you know, I loved your dad. Like he was a really good person. I still dream about him. They still ride motorcycles together in her, you know, morning. And she said, I love you. You're his daughter and I love you. You know? And so it was amazing. Yeah. I have a similar feeling from my...

father's ex -wife, you know, my sibling's mother, when she first met me, she knew about me. You know, she knew that dad had this son after her and she hugged me and she's like, oh, you're the baby we always wanted to find. Yeah. Cause his dad had always been honest and, you know, wanted to find me. Whereas my mother was the complete opposite. Her husband knew about me, but my siblings on her side.

Did not know I existed. I'm so happy for you that you have been able to find your family. It's amazing. I know firsthand what that is like, but each situation is unique completely. And there's like, it's like webbed, like it's all the faster. And it's so amazing. Life changing, right? You're exactly right. And I've said this before on this podcast, but when I turned 40, I don't want to say I'd given up.

But you know, it's like, I've done everything I can do. I don't know how, you know, I just, I kind of just didn't think I'd ever really get to find it. And then, you know, as DNA technology started becoming more popular, thank God for Corey. Cause Corey was like, you know, we gotta try this. Good job, Corey. You're lucky you have that guy sitting right next to you. I'm going to tell you, I can see the love there and wow. What a support for them.

Well, it's, I, you know, I'm a journalist and it's like, it's the story that's still nagging at you. You know, after a couple years, that's kind of how it turned out. I thought, you know what, it was probably a situation where it was some young people who couldn't, you know, couldn't raise a baby and unfortunately, gave up her adoption. Kendall had a wonderful life with his adoptive parents. And that's exactly what it turned out to be. They were 15 and 16. And then it just didn't make sense to try to raise a baby. But then to find, you know, to find out they're still alive and he's got six siblings.

Again, all these nieces and nephews and cousins, it's pretty wild. Yeah. It's gifts from above. I mean, it's such blessings. And we have to say that it happened when it was supposed to happen, you know? You weren't ready perhaps at 20, maybe 30, but you know, now is your time. And it's just when it's right. Same with me, right? Like I tried, I didn't, I kept getting involved and you hit so many, like for me too. So I was 48. You know, I wasn't...

really looking for life changing anything. I had a pretty good life with my cute little family, adorable wonderful aunts and uncles with my adoptive family. I mean they did a great job but something nagging and so at 48 that's when I was right. You know I would have loved my sister when I was pregnant. I would have loved to have her you know when I got married and all these other rules but that wasn't the time. The perfect time was when it happens and that's

You know, you just have to roll with it and just put it all in God's hands. And when he fills, you're ready. That's when it's going to happen. You know? So our motto in life is, well, we missed the first 48 years together. So we're going to make the most of the next 48 years. So we're going to work to be able to work together, have fun together, raise our families together and live life together, shared life. Blessings.

And mothers together at some point, right? At some point, yes. Yeah. Yeah. We see, sometimes we see like older ladies and we can tell their sisters and I'll say sister, that's going to be us. We'll probably live together at some point when we're older shows, but yeah. So much fun. Blessings. My brother, Chris, the one I first connected with, the local brother, he and I always laugh and say, we owe, I owe Cory and he owes his wife, Karen so much because.

politically different than most of them. Yeah. I'm on the far left of the spectrum and most of them are not, but it's been great. We just, there are some things we just don't talk a lot about. You agree to disagree, but you still love each other. And then you just talk about the things you can. That's right. And you just don't even touch that topic again ever. You learn it and you move on. Right? As you've been able to tell your story to a lot of people, especially now that you're working together, how many of them like have...

something like, oh, you know, my, you know, such and such has had a similar situation or what, like, how much, how often does that happen? We hear that all the time. It comes up, right, sister? Yeah. They'll say, oh my goodness. And then they'll just start telling their story. And so that's amazing because it's not something they would probably normally ever talk about. And so it's really good for us. So we've been able to kind of help people in that way to get it out and, you know, verbalize it.

which sometimes can be talked about and it's a meaningful secret. Here we are. We're, you know, Sister Silly Vegas because thankfully our dad did step out on my mom. I'm so happy that he did. Right. And my mom's looking at me because she adores Michelle. You know? I love her too. Yeah. So Kendall, did you say you did ancestry as well? He was at the site? Okay. Because here's what I've heard. Tell me if you...

feel the same way if you were on, let's say 23andMe, but your brother was on Ancestry, they would, you would never have linked, right? Cause there's different sites and they don't speak yet. Maybe some, right? Yeah. And I get it. That's, you know, you given your saliva to them and it's theirs now, but it's been.

Wonderful. Right. What you can do is Ancestor does allow you to download your, your DNA tag or whatever, the sequence. Yeah. And you can put, there are databases out there that are not associated with either company that you can add it to and find out. And that's when you see like all the cousins and that's when you figure out like, Oh, the creature related to, I don't know, I don't know. Gotcha. So that's a way to link the different sites.

It's a possibility to do with that. And we've joined, you know, a bunch of the Facebook groups about, you know, found families and DNA and genealogy and stuff like that, just to, you know, one research for this podcast and two, just to see, you know, what other people are doing and how they're finding out. I did the ancestry and same thing I did. I matched with like some distant cousins that I already knew about. So there wasn't any, they have a mind, there might've been somebody. So it could be, maybe they just haven't.

Yeah, I've done the ancestry. Right. That's right. So we found out that on dad's side, we are one of seven. There's seven of us, which again, I grew up with just Michael, right? It was Michael and I. So I went of seven on my dad's side. And well, I knew I was one of five, but you know, we didn't really, on my mom's side, you know, I didn't really know them. But anyway, I have like 11 siblings now. So crazy. But had our other brother, Ken.

not done ancestry, this would have never happened. Never. I could have been another, I did it and okay, there's this, you know, nobody else. And so I'm, I mean, it's, it had to all a mind. It does. It has to all completely lie. It's amazing. It is. Yeah. About that a lot because like my sister that I saw today, she has never, you know, she's never submitted her DNA. I mean, the only way he would have found each other is through my brother. You know, that.

Yeah. Craziness. Yeah. And I never would have submitted mine because why would I? Right. Right. Yeah. And now it's really cute because now she did do hers and boom, there I am. The first one that popped up and we're the highest match. Sister and I, we have the highest match of anybody, even our other brothers. Yeah. Do you feel about the whole situation? Kind of what? Your brothers feel about how this all came together.

Oh my gosh, they love her. They love her so much. At first, my brother, my younger brother in the military, he was a little skeptical, you know, he, him and I are like this. We are, you know, so close. Like probably Michelle and Michael, we've always been very close and he's very protective of me. When I told him, I'm like, there's a sister. He's like, I don't know. You know, he was skeptical of me meeting her and I met her and I told him, I'm like, she's great. You're going to love her. And he's like, well, I'll be the judge of that.

You know, and he met her and oh my gosh, he adores her. He loves her so much. I mean, and her other brother absolutely loves her. But he's like me, he wears his heart on his sleeve, you know, and he's not, he's pretty open to if I love her, he'll love her, you know. And then that guy found that there are three others. Yeah. Yes. Yeah. From before.

have our sister Dawn, who we love and we haven't met her yet, but we talk a lot. And then there's Ken and we think there's another brother named Kent. So there's three more that I haven't met, but my sister did meet Ken when she was 12 and he was a little bit out. And they both live, Ken and Dawn are probably the two that we're going to be able to meet. And they live in like New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

So we're hoping, you know, maybe get back there and meet them, or maybe they'll get out to Vegas. We already were, had a schedule. We were going to go out there in 2020 and meet both of them. And then, damn, COVID. We had to postpone that, but we're looking forward to meeting both of them. Yeah. That'll be a lot of fun. Did they have a thing in mother? Did they grow up together? They don't, and they did not grow up together. Yeah. So I think there's one, two, four different mothers with these seven kids. Our dad was busy.

Ladies loved him. Yeah. And I wish I could have met him. You know, it's crazy that I'm the one that looks like him. You know, the one of the ones that never got to meet him. But I see pictures and I see so much resemblance. It's so crazy. And it's so nice to finally see, right, Kendall, like who we look like. That is such a big piece. It's such a simple thing to know people because it's natural to them. They are raised with their families. For those of us that weren't. Oh, my gosh, that's amazing.

Just being able with your similar features, it's so, like it's so explain it, right? Well, it's true. And, you know, I said I'm from a really small town and of course everybody knew when my parents adopted me. Okay. You've got my dad who was black hair, really dark complexion. My mother, my adopted mother who was red haired with alabaster white skin. And I was this little strange looking child with blonde hair. You know what I mean? Like, I didn't either of them.

But you know, we were just, we were just the poster children for the blended family. I guess. But it was fun. Same with us. My parents, my little adoptive parents were five one and five two in terms of height. I'm five six. My brother is six foot. And he, you know, we too, we say we were the black sheep. We looked nothing like them or, you know, blue eyes and blonde. And they're this, you know,

Jewish family. They all have dark hair and dark eyes and really short, like the old kind of like mob style looking, you know, and then there's blonde and blue eyes. So it was, you know, what do you do and what it was and it was blessings. But to see like, you know, like my sister and I are so similar. I can't even explain that how amazing all this and no, we're all coming around where I get that from and, and like, or she'll ask me, you know, sister, do you want to do this or this or have you?

How would you do this? Whatever and I'll stay and she'll say, of course she would. And that's exactly how she would do it. All the time. And that's awesome. You know, why we are the way we are. It's a huge answers to a lot of questions. Inexplainable. Right. It's important for people to hear because there might be that like, they're not, they haven't pulled the trigger on doing the ancestor test yet because they don't know what, you know, what, and I'm not, you know, we know not all stories turn out.

But I'm sure there are hundreds out there that did, you know, there are people out there that are looking and it just, it's got to, you know, when you're ready to do it, you know, take that step. Yes. Yes. Because otherwise you, you have the burning questions and it weighs on you a little heavily, you know, and it's always that what if, and you know, you have these questions. So I'd say if you're.

No matter what you're looking for, you know, if you're okay with your life, if you're looking for a change, whatever, if when you feel the right time, you do it and whatever the results are, they are. And you just, you're still an amazing person and you're still you. And so either you'll find some things to compliment what you're already doing or not, but just do it because you never know what you may find. Right. Exactly. Yeah, definitely. Well, if you end up having a big family reunion in Vegas, will you please invite us?

I'd love to meet you. Absolutely. And my son is in Maine going to college. So we go to Boston sometimes when we're visiting him. Maybe have coffee with you guys or something. That would be wonderful. Yeah, Maine is beautiful. Beautiful. Yes. Keep in touch with those guys. And we'd love to see you and meet you in person and talk to you guys so we can ever answer any questions or just want to chat. Definitely keep in touch with us. You guys are adorable. Oh, thank you. Our town is literally...

on the, you know, on the edge of Maine and New Hampshire. It's beautiful back there. Oh my God. It's so pretty. I love it. So pretty. I'm so happy that you guys moved back there and it's all working out and I wish you guys nothing but the best of luck. Thank you. Same to you, Michelle, Trish. You guys are wonderful. What a great story. And just, yeah, seeing you two together, it's just like, wow, this is perfect. Perfect how this ended up. Yeah, it really is. It's our story.

Yeah. Thank you so much for having us, you guys. Thank you.

This is the Family Twist podcast hosted by Kendall and Corey Stulce with original music by Cosmic Afterthoughts and produced by Outpost Productions and presented by Savoir Fair Marketing Communications. Have a story you want to share? Visit FamilyTwistPodcast .com. All our social media links are there as well.