After meeting my second sister in person, I'm overflowing with joy as DNA discoveries continue to transform what used to be a tough season into one of unexpected family connections and healing.
• Traveled to Florida for my sister Robin's 60th birthday celebration despite flight delays and maintenance issues
• Met sister number two in person after months of daily group chats and weekly FaceTime calls
• Experienced the emotional impact of seeing my nephew, who bears a striking resemblance to my late daughter
• Celebrated with new family members, including four nieces, two nephews, and two great-nieces
• Connected so naturally with my sisters that friends asked if we grew up together
• Recognized the bittersweet reality that my daughter will never meet these relatives
• Discovered another potential sister who recently came forward through DNA matching
• Balanced the joy of new connections with processing the complicated emotions about parents' past choices
• Acknowledged that DNA journeys can involve rejection, though mine has been positive so far
• Continue sharing parts of our story while keeping certain aspects private
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Episode Transcript
What's good everybody .
Welcome to the Charging StationPodcast.
It's your girl, Tracy Massey ofLiving my Empowered Life,
welcome, welcome.
Welcome to the shenanigans.
I call my life.
If you are new here, hi,welcome to the shenanigans.
As I just said, I'm tired,y'all I'm tired, so if I repeat
(00:49):
myself, forgive me.
I'm going to try not to, butI'm exhausted.
Anywho, if you're new here,welcome.
Please.
Make sure that you share thisout.
Make sure that you subscribe orfollow whatever the directions
say on your preferred podcastlistening platform.
Stay connected, basically stayconnected If you are a returning
listener or viewer over here onYouTube.
(01:11):
Hey, boo, you know I love mesome of you.
Welcome back.
I had everybody.
Grab your coffee, grab your tea,grab your water, grab your wine
, whatever your beverage ofchoice is.
Go ahead and grab that thing.
Have a seat on the couch couch,couch, couch, because I got an
update for you.
But also make sure that you'refollowing me on all the socials.
You can find me at Living myEmpowered Life on Facebook,
instagram, tiktok Threads,youtube.
(01:34):
I think that's all of them.
I think that's all of them.
So if you do follow me on thesocials, then what I'm about to
share you already know.
So just act like you don't, youdon't know, act like you didn't
see it, but met sister numbertwo.
(01:55):
Y'all, not only did I meetsister number two in person,
live and in Technicolor, I alsomet one of my nephews the nephew
that actually led us to sisternumber two because of his
curiosity.
I met him.
I met another one of my nieces.
Actually, I met, let's see,four of my nieces, two of my
(02:21):
nephews and two of my greatnieces when I went to go
celebrate my sister Robin's 60thbirthday.
Y'all, we had a time.
We had such a great time.
So let me start from thebeginning.
All right.
So traveling to Florida to visitmy sister was challenging.
(02:45):
My flight got delayed threetimes.
On the third time we had tochange planes, and so I thank
God for his protection andtraveling mercy.
Because they said it was amaintenance issue on the plane
and I'm like, oh okay, I wishthey hadn't told me that.
But because I got to pray, andI'm like, oh okay, I wish they
hadn't told me that.
(03:06):
But because I got to praying, Iwas like, oh lord, all right,
here we go.
But my plane.
I was supposed to land inFlorida at like 3 30.
I didn't get there till aftersix.
But it worked out just greatbecause my big sisters came to
pick me up from the airport andit was just, oh, it was just so
great.
Of course I cried when I metsister number two, even though
(03:28):
we have been talking like rightnow we have a whole group chat.
We've been taught we talk everyday and we have a sister call
every week where we get onFaceTime and just chit chat.
So it's not like I didn't knowher, but meeting her in person
and being able to actually hugher, I just I just cried all
(03:50):
into people's airport.
I did Cause it's just been theemotions of everything, just you
know, the gratefulness, thegrab, the, the joy, all of that
just came out and I was justlike, oh my gosh, I'm hugging my
big sister, I'm hugging both ofmy sisters, and so that moment
(04:16):
was just beautiful.
It was just beautiful.
So I have a video up of us meseeing them in the airport,
because they didn't realize thatI had gotten off the plane as
fast as I did and had caught upto them because they were coming
to pick me up in the term meetme at the terminal.
And so I was.
I just made a beeline for them.
But I'm surprised I saw them,that they had to be nobody but
(04:39):
God, because I'm surprised thatI saw them as far away as I was.
But I immediately spotted themand just went with my little
suitcase, you know, going uplike hey y'all.
I didn't say hey y'all, I justsaid excuse me, because I knew
they were like on a missiontrying to get to me and I was
coming to them.
It was so much fun.
(04:59):
And then we went to my sister'shouse and that's where I met my
nephew.
And y'all, when I tell you I'mgonna try to get through this
without crying Cause I cried onthe last episode, I ain't trying
to do that again.
(05:22):
My sister, robin, had told methat my nephew, our nephew,
looked like me.
It didn't dawn on me that if helooked like me, that most
likely he would look like mydaughter, because my daughter
looked just like me.
Y'all.
Why does this man have mychild's whole face?
I looked at him and I was like,oh, the eyes, the nose, the
(05:46):
smile, it, just it.
I was taken aback by it.
So, for those of you who don'tknow, my daughter passed away on
April 16th, which happened tobe that year.
It happened to be Easter Sunday, resurrection Sunday so I get
hit with April 16th and thenwhen Resurrection Sunday comes,
I get hit again, and so I don'ttake it lightly that I God, has
(06:15):
allowed me to meet my sistersand my nephews and my nieces and
great nieces during this timeof year.
It's almost like he's saying Igot you still.
April 19th was my sisterversarywith my sister, robin.
(06:36):
That was the first time we hada conversation on the phone
after we got our DNA results andfound out that we were matched.
So this time that used to be sovery hard for me has been full
of so much joy that I can't evendescribe what it feels like.
(06:57):
It does feel weird seeingpeople with my face, because the
last person that had my facewas my daughter, so I'm so very
grateful Y'all.
I got a sneeze.
Hold on, excuse me, all right,I don't have to sneeze or cough
or do anything like that.
Until I start recording thepodcast I had sneezed all day
(07:17):
Anyway, but that weekend wasabsolutely great.
We got to sit around and justlaugh, we were dancing, we ate.
Good Kudos to my nieces becausethey did a whole fiesta for my
sister Robin's birthday.
It was just like this wholegrand celebration because we
were celebrating her but we werealso celebrating our.
(07:39):
I can't really call it areunion because that was the
first time we kind of met, soI've been calling it a gender
reveal.
So celebrate now, gender reveal.
But I have lots of pictures,lots of video.
Like I said, if you're followingme on the socials, you've
already seen this.
You've seen the behind thescenes stuff of us key keying it
(08:01):
up.
It was Friday night and westayed at my sister Robin's
house till about midnight 1230.
And then we were still textingwhen we got to our hotel, 1.30,
two o'clock in the morning, sowe did not sleep, it was just
that good.
And then got up the nextmorning to celebrate um robin's
(08:22):
birthday and have breakfast withher and just you know, hanging
out with a lot of her friends.
And what was funny aboutmeeting her friends was they
some of them had listened to thepodcast where that robin and I
did, so go back and listen tothat.
I think it's Sister, sister,that's the title of it, but it's
all a part of Branches.
So Branches is a series thatI've been doing, talking about
(08:45):
this DNA journey, and I've justbeen updating you guys on the
things that has been happening.
So I don't know when thisseries is going to end.
I don't, to be honest, becausethere's still things unfolding
and we may never know how manysiblings we have out there.
So, as they reveal, I reveal toa certain extent.
(09:07):
So there's a lot of stuff thatthat's going on behind the
scenes that you guys don't knowlike, for instance, I got a
picture of my father.
Yeah, I won't show that online.
Um, I want to keep that closeto my heart.
Excuse me, even though I don'thave a connection with him, I
still want to keep that close tomy heart.
(09:28):
But yeah, we have anothersister that came forward.
Um, I shared that in the lastepisode.
We haven't had a chance to meetwith her yet, but hopefully we
will soon.
But back to this weekend beingable to hang out with my nieces
and nephews.
You know it was a littlebittersweet because at my
(09:50):
sister's birthday party she hada table where all of the cousins
sat together so they could bondwith my nephew and everybody
kind of get to know each otherand they got along great.
It was just the most beautifulthing to see.
But I looked over at the tableat one point and I got teary
eyed because I immediatelythought, ah, my daughter's not
here, and so that thought stillcomes into my mind that they
(10:14):
will never get to know her.
You know, they will never getto know my baby girl.
So I try to tell them about heras much as I can, but it just
doesn't do her justice.
So that made me a little sad,but also I was happy that to see
the cousins get together andjust gel so well, it's like
(10:36):
they've known each other alltheir lives.
It's like they grew up together.
And so my sister's friends weresaying things like y'all sure
y'all didn't grow up together,talking about me and my sisters
Y'all sure y'all didn't grow uptogether.
Because we really do act likewe've known each other all of
our lives.
And it's only been a year.
(10:57):
It's only been a year since Imet Robin.
It's only been it's coming upon a year since we met Michelle.
So our relationships are freshand we're basically getting to
know each other.
But the bond is real and I lovethe fact that my big sister's
big sister, me.
I'm the baby out of the brood.
(11:20):
Even the sister that we justfound, I'm still the baby and I
love it.
I love being a little sister.
But my sister Robin's friendswere just commenting about how
great we get along and how howmuch we bonded and it just seems
so genuine because it is like Iwould.
(11:42):
I would go toe to toe withanybody for my sisters I
absolutely would, and I knowthat they would do the same for
me.
But it was also funny to haveher my sister Robin's friends
come up to us and say oh soyou're the sisters, especially
me.
Because they were like theyheard the podcast episode and
(12:03):
they were like you're the onethat did the podcast, blah, blah
.
So some of them did askquestions.
A lot of them were just like ohso you're the sisters, you're
real.
I'm like, yeah, we're real,we're real, we're real people
and I think that, um, becauseour story is so intriguing and
it sounds like a movie or aTyler Perry play or something, I
(12:28):
think the disassociation ofthese are real people is there.
So we have to remind people alot like we're real people.
Well, yeah, we flesh and blood,and that's one of the things
that I've had to learn on this.
Lot like we're real people.
Yeah, we flesh and blood, andthat's one of the things that
I've had to learn on thisjourney is that you know people
get excited about the story andI don't mind sharing it, but I'm
not sharing all parts of it.
But I have to remind peoplelike this is my life, this is my
(12:50):
sister's lives, so what we'resharing with you are the
highlights.
You don't get to see the stuffthat goes on, that has us
crumbling, you know.
But I thank God for my sistersbecause they understand this
journey and it's hard to explainit to people who have not
walked through this.
And, yes, it is exciting, butit's also very painful, because
(13:17):
we deal with the decisions thatour parents made, for whatever
reason, those decisions haveimpacted us in our adult lives
and that's the struggle.
I will be honest, that is astruggle for me.
Thank God for my sister,michelle, because she's the one
that's constantly saying youknow we can't dwell on the past
(13:40):
and you know she allows us allthree of us allow each other to
feel what we feel and processthat anger and process that
grief.
But then we go back to so gladthat I have you now.
So our main focus right now isgetting these kids together and
creating memories, and that'swhat we're doing.
(14:01):
So I cannot wait.
I actually miss my sisters whenI'm not around them.
So when I had to come home,actually when Michelle left
Michelle left first and when sheleft and I saw her and my
nephew get on the elevator, Iwas just like I was just crying
my eyes out because I was like,no, don't go.
(14:21):
And when I had to leave mysister Robin, I cried going to
my plane, you know, because it'sso hard leaving them, because
we were trying to make up forlost time, and I know that God
is a redeemer of time, but itstill sucks, you know.
It sucks that our parents madethese decisions, for whatever
(14:41):
reason, and we'll never know,you know, we'll never know,
because all of them are gone.
And when I tell you our motherstook this man to their graves,
I kid you not.
So, yeah, this is the quickepisode.
I just wanted you guys to knowthat I have met my sister number
(15:03):
two.
We're working on sister numberthree and we got so many more
siblings out there we actuallydon't know for sure how many,
but every day it's something.
Sure how many, but every dayit's something.
So thank you for going alongwith me on this ride, thank you
(15:28):
for listening to my story, ourstory and I hope and pray that
if you are thinking about doinga DNA test, even if it's just to
find your lineage, I pray thatthis inspires you.
I pray that it equips you to beable to handle all of the
things that come along with it,because I have been very, very
honest about a few things.
So if you just listen toBranches part one all the way up
(15:49):
to now, what part is this?
Seven, I think part seven.
If you listen to Branches fromthe first episode all the way up
to now, you'll get an idea ofwhat this is like and every
story, everybody's experience isgoing to be different, but
there are more people that havereached out to me whose
experience with a DNA journeyhas been the same, and I will
(16:11):
say this before I go I thank Godthat I've been having a good
experience thus far, becauserejection is a possibility.
You know, people don't have toanswer your emails or respond
back to the connection.
People don't have to send backletters or whatever way that you
reach out.
They don't have to embrace you,because it is a little
(16:33):
traumatizing to find out that.
Okay, my parents were out heredoing some crazy stuff and now I
got a whole sibling.
So I thank God that I've had agreat experience, but I also
pray for the people who have not.
So just know that the elementof rejection is out there and
it's real, so prepare yourselfAll right.
(16:53):
So I'm going to head on off ofhere because I got things to do
and one of them is get some rest.
But before I go, I always,always, always, always, want you
to remember God loves you, Ilove you.
It ain't nothing you can doabout it.
Boo Bye.
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