Relative Match

 On my last post I wrote about receiving my DNA results from a kit that I did. A little saliva goes a long, long way back. The results gifted me with my ethnic heritage and the revelation of the first DNA relatives known to me outside of my children. I opened my "Relative Matches" to discover that my closest relative was predicted as a "2nd Cousin". That was so close! This person could even be in the range of a "1st Cousin". I'd hit the jackpot! Most adoptees are hoping for a "3rd cousin" or closer. Lots of times, finding a gaggle of "4th Cousins" or greater (5th-10th/distant) is disheartening. If one only receives 4th cousins or greater,  then it would be difficult for an adoptee to trace their lineage to themselves. It gets complicated, difficult, frustrating, and dang near impossible. Couple that with the apprehension to help you by your recently discovered cousins, and you have a tangled ball of yarn in your lap. Granted, some relatives are not active on the site after seeing their ethnicity, others lack the knowledge of who your immediate relatives are, and some just don't give a flip. In time, I would encounter a representative (or 2) from every group. My world had just expanded. I'd just brushed the surface of my history. It was time to dig deeper.
 My "2nd Cousin" was such a gift to discover, but he had not been on the website in over a year. *Enter a severe heart drop and one extremely hard expletive* but, I wasn't giving up. I'd just started. So I messaged him. I addressed him and introduced myself. The rest is as follows:

I am on the journey of discovering my heritage. I see that you and I are related. I would like to know how we are related. Where are you from? Where is your family originally from? I am from Charlotte, NC, but I now live in Georgia. A lot of my relatives originate from South Carolina. I am trying to build my family tree. Would you be willing to share your tree with me? I hope that you and I can connect soon. 

 This would become one of my scripts as I searched. It was a way that I could approach people that were understandably skeptical in our scam-happy society. My heart ached. It ached because I had to hold out my "cup" to perfect strangers as I asked for "drops' of information that I hoped would lead to my biological parents. It felt somewhat degrading. But, I straightened my back, put a slight tilt to my chin, and moved forward on my trip around the mulberry bush...