July 10 I will be celebrating my 69^th birthday if the Lord so allows.

For 68 years I lived my life as an only child.

Last year Amy Jo took one of Ancestry’s DNA tests.

When her results came back, she found what is deemed a close relative in her results.

She and this relative had contact he reached out to her.

Amy was just certain that it was from her Momma Marilyn’s side of the family and thus that’s what she thought made the connection.

She talked to her mom on the phone and ran through the connections and it became apparent it wasn’t her family.

Amy called me and we had a conversation about what the connections showed.

It became apparent the connection had come through my father’s side of the family.

My dad had a sister who lives in Columbus who also had taken the test along with his daughter.

I need to point out now that only those who have taken the DNA test show connections. There would be no other way we could be related.

He had reached out to my first cousin (dad’s sister’s son) who was totally uninterested in any conversation about being related. In fact, he was actually very mean to him.

Not everyone is interested in his money and position and in this case, it was not the case whatsoever. His daughter did talk to him a little but that ended quickly.

Then after Amy realized that they had contact and brought me into the picture.

I had email exchanges and then decided to verify it with my own DNA test.

Amazon had them at half price so both Marilyn and I both took them.

Like most things I failed the first test, but they sent me a do over and it came back just a few weeks ago.

The results: exactly what Amy’s test showed.

After figuring every possibility it became clear my useless dad had been with a woman somewhere in his travels.

The other sad element of this is that the biological mother gave him up for adoption.

So, we began email conversations answering lots of questions and pulling together how it all was connected.

We have since moved to texting and have had several sessions.

Brent by DNA is my half-brother. So, I no longer live my life as an only child.

Here is a very unique fact. Truthfully, it is almost unbelievable. Brent’s birthday is July 10, 1968. My birthday is July 10, 1951.

Brent was born two and a half years before our daughter Carol. Brent is 17 years my junior.

He was born up north. He adoptive parents lived in Henderson, NV not too far Amy.

We both hope we can work out a trip at the same time.

Brent lives in Utah and is a member of the Utah State police.

He and his wife Amy have three children. A very lovely family. If we ever all get together, I will post a picture but for now that is about all I want to say.

 I do want to say it is something really new to me to be able call someone brother. I think we both have enjoyed getting together online and plan to set up a time for us to be able to talk online.

It has been a great birthday present and we will be able to celebrate it together.

And so, for another week, thanks and thirty.