I am thankful for Facebook. You’re probably thinking “what does Facebook have to do with family history?” Well the answer is quite simple for me.

A couple years ago my mother was on Facebook when she received a message. The woman asked her if she had two brothers named Brad and Mike and if her mother was Shelia. My mother answered that she did and they started talking. As it turned out my mother’s biological father (who she hadn’t seen in over 40 years), remarried and had two more children, both girls. In one day my mother went from having no parents or sisters, to having a father and 2 sisters. This was one the best days in her life. She had always wanted a sister and she never knew her father was still alive.

Shortly after we got this news I thought I might be able to find my father. The last time I saw him was 20 years ago. With luck I did find him but we haven’t talked more than once since. Things are weird because of the way he left my life, but that’s not a story for here. I am thankful that I was able to then get in touch with his sister who was so happy to see me again.

Without Facebook I’m afraid that we would have never gotten in touch with our family, or even knew that we had family out there. So I am more than thankful for it.