Dorothy Weaver had never considered herself a lonely woman until she lost her husband at 57. Dorothy and her husband Thomas had both been human rights attorneys and their passion for their cause had been all-absorbing.<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n
They met in college at a student protest and had fallen in love at first sight. Over the next thirty-five years, they had occasionally thought about having children, but then another cause would appear, and the baby project would be set aside another year.<\/p>\n
The decades followed each other faster than Dorothy had thought possible, and one day having a baby was no longer possible \u2014 but they could still adopt. Tom and Dorothy had started the adoption process when he died.<\/p>\n
Dorothy had been in the office, going over a last-ditch maneuver to save a teen on death row when the phone rang. She picked it up, irritated at the interruption. \u201cThis had better be good!\u201d she\u2019d snapped.<\/p>\n
\u201cMrs. Weaver?\u201d the quiet voice on the line raised the hairs on the back of her neck. \u201cIt\u2019s about your husband, Mr. Thomas Weaver\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
Dorothy let the phone slip from her nerveless fingers, drowning out the sympathetic voice and all the futile explanations. Tom was gone. That big, brave heart had failed. \u201cI\u2019m alone,\u201d Dorothy whispered, \u201cI\u2019m all alone.\u201d<\/p>\n
While Tom had been raised by loving parents, Dorothy had been shuffled from one foster home to another until she aged out of the system, but her brilliant mind and tenacity had gotten her to college, and then law school.<\/p>\n
There is always something inside us that calls us to where we are meant to be.
\nNow when she got home, there was no more Tom to share a glass of wine with over takeout pasta, no one to argue heatedly over the issues they were defending, no one to reach for in that cold empty bed.<\/p>\n
The terrible feeling of being sundered, less than a whole person that she\u2019d felt all her life had vanished when she met Tom \u2014 but now that terrible loneliness was consuming her life.<\/p>\n
Dorothy increased her office hours, poured herself into more cases until one day she simply collapsed in the middle of an impassioned closing, arguing in defense of a young homeless mother who had killed the social worker who had tried to take her baby. Dorothy, the woman of steel was no more.<\/p>\n
After a long convalescence, she finally took stock of her life. She was now just 60, too young to retire but also not strong enough to practice law like she used to.<\/p>\n
What could she do? Teach? She contacted the prestigious law school she and Tom had attended and cadged an offer to lecture a few hours a week. That was something! She\u2019d be active, useful, and surrounded by bright young minds!<\/p>\n
Teaching helped, but at the end of the day, she was alone, sitting up in bed watching late-night TV \u2014 bad late-night TV! Later she would attribute what happened next to that late-night talk show and its ditzy guests.<\/p>\n
<\/ins><\/div>\n
It was 2 am and a big black woman in a massive wig was interviewing a thin white one with almost no hair. Their mouths were opening and closing soundlessly, and at last, Dorothy relented and turned up the volume.<\/p>\n
\u201c\u2026my mother,\u201d said the thin white woman wiping at her rabbit-pink eyes. \u201cI asked her, but the truth is she didn\u2019t know\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
The black hostess turned incredulous eyes towards the camera before looking back at her guest. \u201cHoney, your mama didn\u2019t know who her baby-daddy was?\u201d<\/p>\n
The thin woman blushed, or rather, she broke out in ugly red blotches. \u201cMy mother had some godless years, Mavis, but she\u2019s walking with the Lord now!\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAmen!\u201d cried Mavis enthusiastically, then she asked, \u201cBut how did she not know?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was those Woodstock days, Mavis,\u201d said the woman. \u201cPeople were sinning and following the ways of the devil and indulging their flesh\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBut you found your father,\u201d Mavis interrupted before the thin woman started preaching. \u201cHow did that come about?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWell, my son sent in my DNA and my husband\u2019s as a Christmas present. And I can tell you, Mavis, I was mad\u2026Some mysteries belong to the Lord\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes, yes,\u201d said Mavis impatiently. \u201cWe all know that, but how did you find your daddy?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThey sent us this report, Mavis, and there it was as bold as brass: Sturgis Lee Kersey. And seven more names of siblings \u2014 brothers and sisters, you know? You could have knocked me over with a feather\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
At that moment, Mavis gestured and Dorothy saw a smartly dressed girl usher in eight scrawny people \u2014 obviously the thin woman\u2019s long-lost relatives. \u201cThis is where I get off!\u201d cried Dorothy, and she switched off the TV.<\/p>\n
But the blotchy face of the thin woman kept rising in front of her eyes, and those purple cracked lips said, \u201cI wanted to know where I come from, and how come he didn\u2019t love me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dorothy got up and went to her bathroom, turned on the lights, and looked in the mirror. She whispered, \u201cI want to know where I come from, and how come she didn\u2019t love me.\u201d The next day, she decided to search learn more about her own roots.<\/p>\n
After doing a considerable amount of research, Dorothy settled on a company that seemed to be the most reliable. She ordered the DNA test, took the cheek swab, and sent it off.<\/p>\n
A month later she received the results. One part was a bewildering flood of information about her ethnic heritage but in another section of the report, she saw the words \u201849.96% match\u2019 with the photo of a red-head young woman whom the company identified as Michelle Simpson, 33, her daughter.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy daughter?\u201d she whispered. \u201cI don\u2019t have a daughter. I don\u2019t have any children whatsoever!\u201d Dorothy sent off a blistering email, accusing the company of incompetence and threatening all kinds of legal mayhem.<\/p>\n
The company replied to her through the telephone a few days later. \u201cMrs. Weaver,\u201d the smooth-voiced man on the other side said. \u201cWe\u2019ve consulted our technical team, and faced with your assertion that you have never been pregnant or given birth, they offer the possibility of you having an identical twin.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAn identical twin?\u201d gasped Dorothy, flabbergasted. \u201cBut\u2026Oh my God! I was raised in the foster system\u2026I had no idea\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
So Dorothy sent Michelle Simpson a personal message through the heritage website and received an excited reply which included a phone number and a suggestion they meet up.<\/p>\n
Dorothy agreed and two days later she walked into a restaurant towards a table where a slim red-head was sitting. The woman, Michelle, tried to get up but sank back down in her chair, white as a ghost.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2026\u201d she whispered. \u201cYou look just like mom. Exactly, that hairstyle, the type of clothes\u2026you even walk like her!\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMichelle?\u201d asked Dorothy hesitantly. \u201cYour mom, she was in foster care too?\u201d<\/p>\n
Michelle shook her red curls. \u201cNo! Mom was adopted when she was two. She had no memories of her mother, but she had a hard time adapting. So later on, my grandparents didn\u2019t encourage her to find her biological family.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYour mother\u2026\u201d Dorothy said. \u201cShe\u2019s my twin. Have you told her? Does she know?\u201d<\/p>\n
Michelle nodded. \u201cYes, she knows. She\u2019s scared though. She didn\u2019t want me to do this. She didn\u2019t want to know why her mother had abandoned her.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAbandoned us,\u201d said Dorothy. \u201cShe abandoned us, and she let us be separated.\u201d Michelle lifted her cell phone and took a snap of Dorothy. She typed out a quick message and sent it.<\/p>\n
\u201cSit!\u201d said Michelle. \u201cTell me about yourself!\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m a lawyer,\u201d Dorothy said. \u201cAnd a widow. I have no children, I have no one which is why I sent in my DNA\u2026\u201d But Michelle was gazing over Dorothy\u2019s shoulder and her face broke into a wide smile.<\/p>\n
\u201cMom,\u201d she cried. \u201cCome and meet Dorothy.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dorothy got up on trembling legs and turned around to face herself!<\/p>\n
\u201cDorothy?\u201d her other self whispered, \u201cI\u2019m Susan.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dorothy didn\u2019t even think. She just stretched out her arms and threw them around Susan. She discovered that she was crying, but it was okay, because Susan was crying too, and so was Michelle.<\/p>\n
\u201cI always felt there was something wrong with me, a part of me missing,\u201d cried Susan sobbing.<\/p>\n
\u201cMe too!\u201d said Dorothy. \u201cAs if only half my heart was working\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNow we are together!\u201d said Susan. They turned radiant faces towards Michelle and smiled identical smiles. Even their hair was cut the same way, and they were both wearing similar outfits.<\/p>\n
Susan \u2014 who practiced family law \u2014 explained that she had been married to Michelle\u2019s father for over 15 years before the relationship fell apart. She and the teenaged Michelle had left Florida and decided to start life over in Denver Colorado \u2014 which happened to be where Dorothy was living!<\/p>\n
Michelle had married and had four children. \u201cSo you are a grandmother!\u201d cried Dorothy enviously. \u201cTom and I kept putting off having children, we thought we had forever\u2026And then it was too late and now I\u2019m alone.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo you are not!\u201d said Susan fiercely. \u201cYou have me and Michelle, and her husband and her kids\u2026 You will never be alone again!\u201d<\/p>\n
So Dorothy ended up with a big family and lots of grand-nieces and nephews who looked just like her. As the two sisters got to know each other better they discovered that they had eery parallels in their lives and identical tastes.<\/p>\n
Since they were both alone, the sisters ended up moving in together, and Dorothy spoils Susan\u2019s grandchildren shamelessly.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Dorothy took a DNA genetic assay as a joke, looking for distant relatives, only to be told she had a daughter, even though she had never been… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1666,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1664","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n