She Felt Sick
She felt tears stream down her face as she dropped the piece of paper that was stained with tears. How could this be true? She had to sit down. Who knew that a single document could have this effect on someone's life?
Claire knew that what the paper said was true. It wasn't worth staying in denial when the truth was right there in front of her. She wished this piece of paper never came into her life.
She Knew He Was The One
As soon as Claire laid her eyes on Mike, she knew he was, ‘the one.’ The two grew up in the same small town, but it wasn’t until they were both 18 when Mike finally made his move.
From there the two embarked on a life together filled with happiness, memories, and affection. But they had no idea how their world was about to get turned upside down.
Some Happy News
It was the couple's 10th anniversary when they found out Claire was pregnant. The two had been trying for a solid year so they were over the moon to learn they would soon hear the pitter-patter of small feet on their floor.
But nothing could have prepared them for what would happen two years later.
Birthday To Remember
It was Mike’s 30th birthday and because it was a big one, Claire knew she had to do something big and incredible. So she decided to get her husband an ancestry kit. She filled their home with hundreds of balloons, got an extravagant cake, and threw a party with all of their closet friends.
She was confident that Mike would have the best day ever. But in reality, it would be the worst birthday Mike would ever have.
He Loved His Gift
Mike’s 30th birthday soon arrived and just as Claire planned, she presented him with his gift. Mike was ecstatic at her thoughtful gesture, he had always been keen to learn about his roots.
And so, once the party was over Claire and Mike sat down and did the test. They were both excited to learn and uncover the secrets of their family history. But they never expected to uncover what they did.
Feeling Nostalgic
A few days later, Claire was flicking through her family photo album. With each page she turned, her smile grew. The faces of her family members tugged at her heart as she reminisced about her childhood.
A sense of nostalgia filled her as she relished these blissful memories. Little did she know, everything she thought was completely wrong.
Receiving The Results
A week after they sent the DNA test, Claire and Mike received their results. Claire waited all day for Mike to get back from work so they could do it together.
As soon as she heard Mike’s keys in the door, she raced towards him armed with the letter containing the results. They were both so excited! But their whole world was about to be turned upside down.
Nervous But Excited
Opening the page, Claire could feel her heartbeat in her throat. She was nervous but excited and endless theories ran through her mind.
And so, as Claire and Mike sat down. Their eyes began to scan the contents of the page and a sudden and uneasy feeling hit the pit of Claire’s stomach.
This Had To Be False
“No way,” Mike yells out. “This can’t be true, it can’t be!” he proclaimed, getting up and racing towards the bathroom. But Claire didn’t respond. She was absolutely lost for words.
You see, right there on the piece of paper, the results showed that Claire and Mike were actually closely related. They were cousins. And it was that moment then when the beloved couple’s world was left in tatters. But Claire needed answers. And she needed them fast.
So Many Questions
The recent discovery left Clare completely unsettled. How was this true? How could they be related? Mike’s parents had been married for 30 years and he always held his mother close to sainthood.
But the only realistic theory Claire had, pointed to her mother-in-law having an affair with one of her uncles. Still, she didn’t know who could it be?
It Didn’t Make Sense
Since the couple learned about this, Claire and Mike decided to sleep in separate rooms and refuse to talk about what happened. But Claire was still ridden with confusion as to how exactly they were related.
All of her uncles were happily married - it just didn’t make sense! And so, for a few days, Claire tried her hardest to put together the pieces in this unsettling story. But she wasn’t able to. She was distraught. She had to tell someone but she couldn’t. She was all alone. She would forever be living with this secret.
Living With A Secret
What was more painful for Claire was that she couldn’t even share her secret, not even with her own sisters or her mom who visited just a month after Claire and Mike learned the truth.
She was worried she would ruin her marriage. Worried that it would blow up the rest of her family. Her father-in-law loved to mention how he married the first girl he ever kissed. But he was wrong. Everything Claire thought she knew, was in fact wrong.
Not A Happy Ending
Unfortunately for Claire, she would never find out the truth about her family. Since their discovery, both Claire and Mike decided to separate.
Then, a year later, their divorce was finalized. It was a strange feeling but Claire felt at ease. She could now carry on with her life. But she wasn't the only one whose life was shattered by a DNA test...
Unexpected Christmas Surprise
His mother looked at him in terror as her children opened their gifts one by one and all pulled out the same gift.
No one knew her secret that she had kept for so many long years. She had prayed that no one would ever know the details of her past. Now everything was falling apart and she had to stop it. One way or another.
Easy Test
Most people have heard about the cute little test you can easily take in the privacy of your own home called the home DNA test.
The little box is easily available at most drug stores and people are fascinated by their unknown history being brought to life. Some people even wonder if the DIY kit can tell you more about yourself based on people long past who make up your genetic code.
What’s Been Uncovered?
There have been some interesting things that have been uncovered as a result of these DNA kits, but none so strange as the story of one man who gifted his entire family with DIY DNA kits on Christmas Eve.
“Earlier this year, AncestryDNA had a sale on their kit. I thought it would be a great gift idea so I bought 6 of them for Christmas presents.” he wrote. He had no idea the panic it would cause within his family.
A Family Problem
“Today my family got together to exchange presents for our Christmas Eve tradition, and I gave my mom, dad, brother, and 2 sisters each a kit.”
He continued, but upon opening the gifts James got some reactions he wasn’t expecting. His mother, after opening her DNA kit box dropped the gift as if it had burnt her and looked around the table, pure fear in her eyes.
Any And All Reasons
Thinking of any reason for her kids not to take the test she began to find a reason, any reason, that could stop the events already put in motion.
“You shouldn’t take this test!” the words poured out her mouth in a rush, “The chemicals in them are extremely dangerous!” But the excuse fell on deaf ears as the family explained that actually there were no chemicals in the tests at all. She scrambled for something more.
Flustered Mom
Everyone could she see was flustered but they had no reason to question their mother as to why she was acting so peculiarly.
She tried again a few minutes later, “Only one of you kids need to take it since we will all have the same results. You should resell the extra kits to save money.”
Storming Off
Perhaps her plan had worked, she thought as everyone continued with the evening, but when the conversation about the tests came around again she couldn’t take it and stormed off upstairs, followed quickly by her husband.
What was going on? Then, an enormous fight erupted and the bewildered kids could do nothing but speculate.
Post To The World
James decided to post the happenings of the evening on a popular social site saying, “Fast forward: Our parents have been fighting upstairs for the past hour, and we are downstairs trying to figure out who has a different dad.”
But it wasn’t as cut and dried as that, and nobody had taken the test yet anyway.
Update
“Update: Thank you so much for all the love and support. My sisters, brother and I have not yet decided yet if we are going to take the test. No matter what the results are, we will still love each other, and our parents no matter what.”
He posted a few hours later, clearly worried about the trouble he had caused and truly hoping for the best.
Waiting Nervously
Everyone waited around the table in awkward silence until finally mom and dad came downstairs. Both parents were much calmer now and seemed to have made a decision.
Clearly, there was something going on that the kids had never been aware of, and for it to be coming out now on Christmas Eve made James more than a little nervous.
What Was The Problem?
What could have caused his parents to fight like that, and an hour later be a team again?
They made their way downstairs and were finally ready to face the family and give some information that clearly was about to change the very way that the family interacted, and even how they saw themselves.
Falling Apart
James’s whole world as he knew it was falling apart…he never expected a simple Christmas gift to cause such a rift in his family.
But now the family secret was about to come out and there was no turning back. Mom sat everyone down and started to confess, but the biggest question on James’s mind was: did he really want to know the truth?
A Confession
Mom started to speak and the anguish on her face was plain to see. It was finally time to confront the truth that she had hidden from her family for so long.
Her husband sat next to her with a pained expression on his face. Although James expected the worst, he never could have imagined the gravity of what his mom was about to tell them.
The Truth
Their mother started by explaining that their father was indeed the father of the boys, but in a strange twist, he was not the father of the girls.
But how was this even possible? And had their father known before the DNA kits had forced the secret out? Their mother started to cry as she told them everything.
An Update
James recounts the evening events in a witty paragraph: ‘Update 2: CHRISTMAS ISN’T RUINED! My mistake actually turned into a Christmas miracle. Turns out my sister’s father passed away shortly after she was born.’
And it also turned out that their father had known their mother’s secret all along. But this raised another question.
Why Didn’t She Tell Them?
‘A good friend of my mom was able to help her through the darkest time in her life, and they went on to fall in love and create the rest of our family,’ James wrote.
So why had their mom not told the children about their parentage if her husband had been with her every step of the way?
No Right Time
Their father already knew that he didn’t father the first two children. So, was it a secret that once begun she didn’t know how to end it?
No time seemed right and then it was too late and each passing day and year made the lie seem bigger and more impossible to tell? Probably exactly that. James continued…
A Hard Truth To Tell
‘They never told us because of how hard it was for my mom. Last night she was strong enough to share stories and photos with us for the first time, and it truly brought us even closer together as a family."
"This is a Christmas we will never forget. And yes, we are all excited to get our test results. Merry Christmas everyone!’
Nothing Messy
So it turns out that there was nothing nefarious going on, she’s been involved in no secrets or scandalous affairs.
Just a history too painful to talk about until this Christmas gift forced her hand. She must have thought that it made no difference if the kids were led to believe they were full siblings since they all had the same upbringing with the same parents caring for them, but some others were not so lucky.
Who’s Thomas?
Another man named George Doe commented about when he gave his parents a 23andMe DNA kit, also as a gift.
He only intended to discover the health history of the family, but what he found was extreme. A line at the bottom of the page read: “check this box if you want to see close family members in this search program”. He did check it and found that he shared 22% of his genome with someone else in the database: a man named Thomas.
Not A Happy Ending
When he asked his father if he knew any ‘Thomas’ his father said no.
But George went to check and discovered that in his fathers “close family member” box, Thomas popped up, with a 50% genome match- meaning that George’s father was also Thomas’s father. But not all DNA kits end up with sad stories and cheating spouses.
Who’s My Dad?
Another case sees Chassity who, at 31 years old had no idea who her father is. It was because of how little knowledge she had about her ancestry that she decided to to take a DNA test in the first place.
When she got her results she was surprised to see a lot of European heritage which was coming from her x chromosomes. She pressed her mother for more information about her true heritage.
Lied To
Her mother is African American and she would always say that Chassity’s father was ‘deeply dark-skinned’, but Chassity would find out that wasn’t quite the truth.
She argued with her mother until she gave in and told Chassity a name she had never heard before. Her entire identity was based on a lie her ethnic heritage, who her father was, and even the last name she had been using for 31 years.
I’ve Been Looking For You!
Now that she had the name, Chassity tracked her father down on Facebook and messaged him.
“I didn’t know if he even knew about me or would even accept I could possibly be his child,” she recalls with apprehension, but the message she got back was better than she could have imagined.
The Moral Of The Story
“Wow, I been looking for you forever,” Chassity’s biological dad replied.
Chassity’s story is among countless good ones as well as some that were not quite thought through. Make sure you want to know about your past before you go digging seems to be the moral of the story.