Tracey shares the latest development in her ongoing family discovery journey as a third half-sister emerges from an ancestry DNA test, bringing their total to potentially nine siblings who never knew each other existed.
• Recap of finding sister number one last year through ancestry DNA testing
• Discovery of sister number two six months ago and now sister number three
• The three sisters look alike, sound alike, and get along immediately despite never growing up together
• Emotional complexity of finding siblings later in life - joy of connection mixed with grief over lost time
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Episode Transcript
What's good, everybody?
Welcome to the Charging StationPodcast.
It's your girl, Tracey Masseyof Living EmPOWERed Life.
Baby, you know.
You know, when I get on thescreen and I'm smiling, it's big
, it's something.
It's something.
So go ahead, grab your coffee,grab your tea, grab your water,
(00:50):
grab your wine.
Whatever your beverage ofchoice is sis, bro, go ahead and
grab that thing and have a seaton the couch, because I got
something for you.
But first I want to welcome allof our returning listeners.
You know I love me some you.
Welcome back.
If you are new here, be sure tofollow me on all of the socials
.
I'm on Instagram,Facebook,YouTube on TikTok, Living My
EmPOWERed Life.
Just go on there.
I'm on Threads Living MyEmPOWERed Life.
(01:11):
And if you are returning, Ineed you to go ahead and
subscribe on whatever platformyou're listening to.
Subscribe, follow whatever thething asks you to do.
I need you to do that and Ialso need you to go ahead and
rate this podcast.
Give us five stars because wedo things in excellence.
Give us five stars.
Leave a review.
(01:32):
Let us know why.
You like the charging station.
So, all right, I'm not gonnahold you.
I'm not gonna hold you.
So here we go.
Now y'all remember.
Let me just do a quick recap.
Okay, so this time last year Idid an ancestry DNA test and I
just did it because I wanted tofind my genetic makeup.
(01:53):
But there were some surprises,one of them being a half sister
that I didn't know existed.
Okay, now I don't know my daddy.
I'm one of those, one of thefortunate people to have not
grown up.
I say fortunate because nothingunfortunate happens to me.
Everything that happens to meis for a reason.
(02:14):
So I did not grow up with myfather, did not know who he was,
wasn't even thinking, with theDNA testing that I was going to
like uncover some stuff likethis.
So here we go, find my halfsister.
We meet.
She's actually on one of thepodcast episodes.
Go and meet her.
So I'm calling my siblings,labeling my siblings as I find
(02:37):
them.
So, sister number one, you allgot a chance to meet her on one
of the podcast episodes.
Go back and listen to that.
I think it's like branches partthree or four or something, I
don't know.
But this is branches part six.
The tree keeps going.
So my sister was on a podcastand we did another DNA test
because we were working with agenealogist who told us, the
(03:00):
more tests we do, the more weget to cast out a net, so we get
to find more people.
And boy, when I tell you that'sexactly what has happened,
because not only did I findsister number one, then we get a
nephew in the mix.
So we're like, okay, well, wegot a nephew.
Then that means their parents,whether it be their father or
(03:23):
their mother, because we didn'tknow which one at the time.
That's our sibling.
So we thought at the time thatthat sibling was connected to
our father.
They were, but not in the waythat we thought.
So we find sister number two,who did not know our father as
(03:43):
well.
So it was like the same storyy'all.
My father, how can I say it?
How can I put it?
He was a hoe.
Anyway, it was the same story.
So we get sister number two.
All of us have the same face.
We look alike, we sound alike.
It is crazy.
(04:04):
None of us grew up together.
None of us knew we existeduntil we took these dna tests
right.
So now I have two older sisters.
I grew up as the only childthat my mama had, but my father
was different.
I have two older sisters thatwe know of at this point.
Well, yeah, we find my father'sobituary right.
(04:30):
On his obituary there's a wifeand there's four of the children
, but neither of my sisters normyself are listed on this
obituary.
So, okay, y'all All right, allright.
So y'all All right, all right.
So y'all keeping up with this,y'all keeping up, okay.
(04:50):
So fast forward to now.
I'm at the house Saturday night, minding my business, sitting
in my bed, rubbing my feettogether, just as happy-go-lucky
as I can be, and guess what?
I get an email.
Okay, nothing out of theordinary.
I open up the email and it's amessage from one of the DNA
(05:11):
sites, which is not uncommon,because sometimes, when you get
a match, people will message you.
Sometimes they will want toconnect with you.
The last couple of times I'vegotten messages like that, it's
been cousins from down the line.
I mean like third, fourth,fifth, sixth cousins.
Like I don't even know whothese people are.
This time it was different.
This time it was different.
(05:33):
I opened up the email and baby,it's another sister.
Oh, oh, oh God.
I opened up the email and seehalf sister and fall out.
Okay, I dropped my phone and Ilooked at it and I'm like, oh my
(05:54):
God.
So let me, let me just saysomething.
We all my sisters and I, sisternumber one and sister number
two we all feel like that thereare more of us out there.
We just don't know.
But just because you have anassumption or you may know that
somebody else is out there, itdoesn't mean you're not going to
be impacted or affectedwhenever it pops up.
(06:15):
So we've all been like oh myGod.
I immediately FaceTime mysisters and they immediately
answered because they knew itwas 9, 30 at night.
What's up?
Tracy does not call us thistime of night.
All I could say when theyanswered was y'all, y'all.
And so they're like freakingout, like what's going on?
What's going on you?
Okay, what's up?
So I tell them we got anothersibling.
(06:38):
One of my sisters was like nope, the other, the other sister,
was like who is it?
Like what is it?
Blah, blah, blah, blah.
So we proceed to find her, likefind information about her and
we finally get in touch with her.
So we messaged her on Facebook,I know y'all, I know.
(06:59):
We messaged her on Facebook and, oh, notification, stop playing
with me, I'm a block.
You Cause?
You making me think I'm doingsomething wrong.
You ain't even spelledviolation, right?
Sorry y'all, for everybodythat's listening, I'm on Tik TOK
live and doing my podcast,recording a podcast live on Tik
TOK.
So somebody blocked violation.
(07:24):
They getting on my nerves.
Anyway, where was I?
So we proceed to go look upinformation on sister number
three and we're trying to findout, okay, well, what's going on
?
What's going on?
What's going on.
We finally get a hold of herand she is super excited to meet
(07:44):
us.
We have the same story with mydad my father I can't even call
him a dad, y'all but one thingthat sister number three had
that we don't have.
Let me see if I can block thisperson because they are really
getting on my nerves.
Hold on block account.
There we go.
Confirm boop.
(08:05):
Thank you, all right, all right.
So back back to the story.
We finally get a hold of sisternumber three and when we talked
to her it is wild.
She proceeds to tell us herstory and again it tracks.
(08:29):
It's the same pattern.
So our father had a pattern towhere he would show up in your
life at a certain age.
So for me it was five.
For my sister number two and I'mnot saying their names, y'all,
because I'm trying to protecttheir identities and things like
that, because even though thisis my story, it's their story as
(08:50):
well.
So, like I said, I'm labelingthe siblings as we find them.
So I've been with sister numberone the longest.
It's been a year since we foundeach other.
Sister number two has beenabout six months and now we got
sister number three.
This is so fresh that wehaven't even been in the same
room with sister number two yet.
I have yet to meet sisternumber two in person.
(09:11):
But that's about to change.
So another episode of thepodcast is going to come up.
I'm trying to get her to get onit but she's a little private.
But sister number three we geton the phone with her and she
tells us the same story.
So right about five years old,our father just kind of pop up
(09:31):
and would be like hey, I'm yourdaddy, but we didn't see him
anymore.
So for my story, what happenedwas when I was five, he shows up
at my door and I rememberlooking at him and in my at my
five year old brain, looking atthis man and saying, oh, he has
my face.
So at five years old old I knewI registered the connection.
(09:55):
So he it was daytime when hecame so he picked me up and he
took me to the mall.
We went shopping.
He bought me like all of thisstuff.
He took me to the movies.
We went out to eat.
Like he got me popcorn,everything I wanted and asked
for that day.
He got it for me.
So I'm like, okay, this isgreat.
You know, five five-year-oldmind is like, yay, I'm being
(10:16):
spoiled by my dad.
Well, that was the last time Isaw him.
For whatever reason he did notcome around.
But there was one major reasonhe actually passed away that
December.
So I met him the summer of 1981and he died in December of 1981
(10:39):
.
But one thing about our storiesbetween myself and my sisters is
all of our mothers have gone on.
They passed away, but all ofour mothers took this man's name
, likeness, story, everything totheir graves.
So we're sitting here trying toput together pieces at our big
(11:00):
age.
I just turned 49 years old.
My sisters are older than me.
So imagine going through yourentire life not knowing who your
father is, not having a clue ofwhat he did, why he did it.
How many children are out therebecause we don't know.
So let me run down, like what wethink, the age ranges are.
(11:24):
So my oldest sister is she'llbe 70 this year, but we have a
sister that's older than her.
No, we have a sister that's ayear younger than her.
So it's sister number three,unknown sister that was listed
on the obituary, then sisternumber two, then sister number
(11:44):
one and then me.
But remember when I said thathe had four other children on
obituary.
So right now we're at a count ofnine.
It's nine, it's nine of us andthere could be more because
(12:06):
sister number one and I have an11 year age gap.
We truly believe that there aresome more children between she
and I.
And my crazy tail self is likeI wonder if he was able to fire
off a few more before he died.
(12:26):
And I like being a baby, evenat my age.
I like being a baby sisterbecause I grew up an only child
with my mother, but I enjoybeing a baby sister because my
baby, my big sisters love on meand they treat me like a baby
and I like it like not in a waythat is disrespectful, but
they're loving on me in a waythat siblings do and I like
(12:47):
being an annoying little sister.
So I carry that badge withhonor.
Thank you on TikTok for thehelping us reach this goal.
Keep it coming, keep it coming.
So right now we stand at aboutnine children.
We got about nine.
There are possibly more.
There may be some out therethat we may never know.
(13:08):
We did see one brother listed.
There could be more, we don'tknow.
So we're still out here justgetting to know each other,
loving on each other.
We have a new sister that'scome in and she's been amazing.
That's one thing about thisjourney that you don't have
(13:28):
control over.
You don't know how this personis going to be.
You don't know if you're goingto like them, if they're going
to like you, if they're going tobe receptive.
So this journey is hard and onething that I tell people when
we share our story is that, likethey get excited about it.
Yes, yes, it's an amazing story.
(13:48):
It's exciting, blah, blah, blah.
But you don't see the otherside of that, where you are
dealing with the repercussionsof things that have happened.
So I've had people in my lifethat have known me all my life
say that they are jealous that Ifound my sister.
Hey, friend, they're jealousthat I found my sister.
(14:10):
These are people that I grew upwith.
Why are you jealous that Ifound my sister?
These are people that I grew upwith.
Why are you jealous that Ifound my sister?
Just the other day I hadsomeone say to me try to tell me
how to feel about my father andfeel about this situation.
And one thing about me I'm aPisces.
One thing about me I tellpeople all the time you better
be glad, I love the Lord and I'msaved and I have some emotional
(14:33):
intelligence because I will goscorch the earth when you push
that right button.
So I thank God for growthbecause I did not scorch earth
but I did lay down clearboundaries, deciding to do an
ancestry DNA or any kind of DNAtesting.
If you're looking for yourgenetic makeup or anything like
(14:56):
that, be prepared to uncoversome things that may not be
pleasant to learn and also beprepared for the backlash,
because there will be some.
There could be backlash fromyour family, your friends,
people that are closest to you.
But there could also bebacklash from the people that
(15:18):
you're trying to find.
So so far we haven't had muchbacklash from the people that
we're trying to find.
We did reach out to our brotherand we have not heard back from
him.
So we don't know if he's stillalive, we don't know if he's not
, and we don't know if he justdoesn't want to talk to us,
(15:42):
because that could be a thing.
And one of the hardest partsabout this journey is once you
get over one thing.
This journey is once you getover one thing.
So, like once you get over theshock of finding siblings that
you didn't know exist, youuncover another thing.
So be prepared for all of thosethings.
(16:02):
I am so very blessed to havefound amazing sisters who have
been supportive on this journey.
You know they haven't rejectedme or we have.
I haven't rejected them.
That's a blessing, and I knowfor a fact that everyone's story
is not like that.
So right now we're just gettingto know sister number three.
(16:27):
She is hilarious.
She is hilarious and it's justamazing for me.
You know, after losing mydaughter, after losing my
daughter, I didn't have anyonewalk in this earth that had my
face, if that makes sense.
My daughter was like my twin.
She looked just like me.
So seeing my sisters and seeingthe same eyes, seeing the same
(16:50):
nose, seeing the same mouth,it's crazy.
It's crazy.
And also, y'all.
Here's another thing to add intothe mix of this.
My father was in the Navy.
So I don't know, we don't knowwhere he dropped off his seat,
(17:14):
we don't know.
I keep telling my sisters I'mlike, oh my gosh, I really hope
he did not do.
He was stationed overseasbecause we can have siblings all
over the world.
We don't know.
We do know that he was activeand because all of us were born
right around the same month, wekind of figured out when he was
(17:35):
active he was a hot boy andoutside.
Before hot boys and outside wasa thing.
And one thing about thisjourney as well is we don't have
anybody to go to to answer ourquestions.
So we're trying to put piecestogether that we may not have
(17:59):
all of the pieces to the puzzlefor.
So it's hard, it's difficult,but I'm so glad again that my
sisters are open and receptiveto this journey.
So y'all please keep me inprayer Because when I tell you,
this thing has been amazing.
(18:20):
I've been calling it anemotional tornado, because once
the tornado stops spinning, thenyou have to rebuild and as soon
as you rebuild, here comesanother tornado.
Someone asked me the other dayif I regret doing it.
Absolutely not, absolutely not.
(18:40):
First of all, I don't reallylive my life with regrets, but
if I regretted this, the onlything that I, if I regretted
this, the only thing that Iregret is that I did not do this
sooner, because I could havehad my big sisters a long time
ago.
And that's one reason why Idon't regret.
(19:01):
It is because I have my bigsisters, because I grew up
thinking I was an only child andI'm not.
I'm actually a baby sister.
And there's also things that youknow that go along with this
journey that we're we're havinga hard time dealing with.
You know, my sisters will neverknow my daughter because my
daughter passed away in 2006.
(19:22):
They will never know mydaughter because my daughter
passed away in 2006.
They'll never know my daughter.
I didn't get to watch my niecesand nephews grow up and I know
I would have been a cool auntiebecause the way that I am with
my, my friends, kids, they're mybabies.
I tell them all the time youbirth them, but they're my
babies and so those moments,those opportunities, those are
(19:44):
the things.
That is hard and we don't.
We're trying to make up forlost time, but we also know that
that lost time is there.
So anytime we get on the phonetogether, we have a weekly
sister call where we FaceTimeand we just sit there and
(20:05):
giggling.
If you ever have theopportunity to be in the same
room with us, you would thinkthat we grew up together.
We did not.
We literally just met eachother.
We're literally just findingout things and learning about
each other, but the way that wejust gelled together, I'm so
blessed to have that opportunity.
(20:26):
So that's the update, y'all.
We got another sister, we gotanother sister, the gift that
keeps on giving and I'm reallyhoping that we find some
brothers.
I'm really just walking aroundnow especially.
Well, I live in North Carolinanow, but I'm thinking when I go
back to DC, because that's wheremy dad was popular.
(20:48):
We're all from DC, except forsister number three.
She's in Rhode Island, andbecause he was in the Navy, my
father was in the Navy, that'swhy she's in Rhode Island, but
all the rest of us DC, dmv, butall the rest of us, dc DMV that
area.
So I know when I go back home,go back to DC, I'm going to be
looking in everybody's faces andtrying to figure out okay, do
(21:08):
you look like me?
Do you know Chalk?
That was his nickname back inthe day.
Do you know Chalk?
Is he your daddy?
He might be my relative, butthe gift that keeps on giving.
I can't help but laugh, becausethis is literally the wildest
thing I have ever experienced inall of my life.
(21:31):
Y'all stay tuned.
Next month I get to be in thesame room with two of my sisters
I don't know if sister numberthree will be able to make it,
because it's a little shortnotice for her and she may not
be comfortable with coming tothe gathering.
(21:52):
And everybody's saying everyonehas been saying that we would
be having a reunion.
I'm like we can't have areunion because we never met, so
I've been calling it the genderreveal.
It's a girl, it's a girl, it'sa reunion.
I'm like we can't have areunion because we never met, so
I've been calling it the genderreveal.
It's a girl, it's a girl, it'sa girl, it's another girl.
So I just want to take a momentto thank you all for joining.
(22:15):
Please stay tuned to this storyand other shenanigans.
We will be back next week withanother episode of the Charging
Station.
I don't know what's going tohappen, y'all, but I will say
I'm about to go on a cruise, soyou know I'm going to have some
shenanigans.
You know I'm going to have somestories, so just stay tuned.
But thank you for watchingthere on TikTok.
(22:35):
Thank you for watching onYouTube, wherever you're
watching, if you're listening.
Thank you for listening.
Please be sure to join us again.
I look forward to chatting withmy peeps and until next time,
remember God loves you, I loveyou.
It ain't nothing you can doabout it.
Boo Bye.
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