If you would have asked me what Sibling Season is five years ago I would have looked at you blankly and said, “I have no idea”.
What a difference a simple DNA test can make.
Sibling Season falls in the space between Winter and Spring and is roughly eight weeks long. It is the space between one gifting a DNA test to someone, that person taking and submitting that test, and their results being published to the site.
No matter why the test was given or taken, statistics show that surprises are more common than many of us would like to believe.
I purchased and took my test on my own, and I am so grateful I did, but goodness did it turn my world upside down.
Truly, in the most painful and the beautiful ways.
Five years later and I’m over here checking my Ancestry account every day and finding myself almost wanting to see a close match, an unfamiliar name, someone new to add to the genetic mosaic of my ever-evolving genetic puzzle.
Hear me when I say this, It’s not that I want anyone related to me to experience the pain or confusion I felt when I took my test. Never would I ever. I think it’s a simple curiosity and the enjoyment of continuing to put the puzzles pieces in their rightful places.
Maybe those pieces contain another sibling…
Or a cousin…
Or an aunt or uncle.
And maybe not.
Maybe the first flooding w h o o s h and subsequent WaVeS in the first couple of days, months, and years of this experience was it.
Regardless, I do believe that as long as DNA testing exists and we humans remain curious about our origins, Sibling Season will always be a very important part of this Family Historian’s life.
Do tell, have you taken a DNA test? Were your original intentions sidetracked or did things move forward just as you’d imagined they would? Do you now, or have you ever, observed Sibling Season? I’d love to hear about your experiences!
Onward,
Melis