I just came across a heartwarming story about a former native of Danbury that hit very close to home, and I'd like to share her story, and my story, because I think we all need a bit of positivity.

According to an article published by The Norwich Bulletin, former Danbury resident, Jane Anderson Holmes, who lived in the city with her adoptive parents and attended Danbury High School, flew back to Connecticut from her now native West Virginia just last week to physically meet two of her brothers and a sister, for the very first time.

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Holmes' biological mother gave her up for adoption at just 17 years of age. Holmes knew that she was adopted, and had searched unsuccessfully for decades to find her parents or any siblings. As it turns out, she did have brothers and sisters, six of them, and they semi-knew about her. According to the report, they had also unsuccessfully searched for her over the years.

Just this past July, DNA testing giant 23andMe notified Holmes that they had found a match, a first cousin, one of her brother's daughters.

With the pandemic travel restrictions, it took a couple of months, but just over the Labor Day weekend, Holmes flew up from West Virginia and met two of her brothers, and a sister, for the very first time. The siblings have had such success, they have vowed to continue to flesh out their extended family tree through other DNA testing sites.

This story hit very close to home for me. A few years before my mom passed away, she sat us down on a Sunday afternoon and calmly explained that she had given up two children for adoption during the 1960s, and her daughter, my sister, had contacted the adoption agency in hopes of getting my mom's medical records released. My brother and I were so stunned.

Two weeks later, we were sitting at the Wood N Tap on Queen Street in Southington having dinner with my long-lost sister. That's a photo of the three of us at that dinner below.

You never know where life is going to take you. I thought I had the world figured out at 40 years old, then I got a new big sister. It's funny, after this happened to me, I thought I was so unique and that this kind of situation only happened in movies, but I've come to find out that it is much more common than I'd imagined.

Photo by Large Dave
Photo by Large Dave
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