You just never know.....

...what is right around the corner!

A couple years ago, I took the "23 and Me" DNA test.  If you elect to post your profile, then other relatives can contact you.

I had a 3rd cousin notify me, trying to figure out how we were connected.  Then she had me do her genealogy and I found that her mother and I are 2nd cousins, connected through our great grandparents!

#3rd cousin, had her mother contact me via e-mail. 

2nd cousin--Her mother and my grandmother were sisters.  Her Dad and my mother, 1st cousins.  

She and I, about the same age, had never met.  That side of the family never had reunions that we attended, but I do remember going with my Mother to her grandma's funeral.

So, my 3rd cousin has been trying to set up a meeting.  She works for an oil company and travels all over and isn't home very much or for very long.

Today, she had to travel down to Ann Arbor, so on her way back home, we met up at Outback Steak House in Brighton.

Oh.  My.  Gosh!  What a wonderful time we had.  3rd cousin insisted that her Mom and I each have the Fillet Mignon--not the 6 oz, but the 9 oz.   Her Mother and I both ordered French Onion Soup and the same salad--we laughed that now we knew for sure we were related.

It's funny though, my 2nd cousin is very short--look how short she is!-- and looks nothing like me, while her daughter 3rd cousin looks like she could be my own daughter.

We've already made arrangements to meet for lunch again.  Her mother said, "Why don't we meet in Durand...at Nick's", which floored me as I eat there often with my Old School Gal Pals.  My cousin and I never even knew each other existed, and yet today, we are both familiar with the same restaurant in Durand?  She lives about 15 miles north-west of there, in Owosso.

AND...she has a foster home for...cats!  She is very connected with that county's Humane Society and get this---has a special large room, connected to her house, where she houses, up to a dozen cats at a time...brings them up, cares for them, pays their vet fees, and socializes them, until their adoption.

We never knew each other existed and now, we are family forever!