She Looks Like Me! Meeting My Half-Sister for the First Time

Friday morning, June 27th 2001

My half-sister Peggy stepped out of the car and walked up the steps of my house in Gloucester, Massachusetts....I'd never seen anyone who looked like me. It was amazing! Tears, hugs, pure joy!

In the spring of 2001, Peggy and I started talking about arranging a visit. She and her husband and son Scott lived in York, Pennsylvania and spent two weeks in New Harbor, Maine every summer (near Boothbay Harbor if you're familiar with Maine). With my birth-mother Irene's blessing, Peggy proposed that they stop by for a visit on their drive back home to Pennsylvania. We wrote emails back and forth to figure out the logistics, and then they arrived! I remember so vividly seeing her for the first time. I was absolutely stunned by how much we looked like each other.

We sat outside on my back deck on the gorgeous sunny day and Peggy and I talked and talked and talked. We found out that we both have degrees in Graphic Design, we both have one son, we both love the color purple and sunflowers, and are passionate gardeners. She brought an inch think printed out copy of the family genealogy that she'd been working on for years. I couldn't even look at it...it was completely overwhelming to be handed the history that I had wanted for so many years, especially from someone who looked so much like me! I've thought so many times about the age old question of "nature versus nurture". It's evident that the three of us sisters share a lot of genetics. It's also clear that I was raised in a different environment from Susan and Peggy. It's a fascinating conversation.

I'm a few inches taller than Peggy, and of course older - about 4 years. Susan is the youngest daughter (I'll introduce her soon) and she is the tallest. If you'd like to see a photo of the three of us, look back at my post "And Then There Were Three".

I have a few photos from that day - those were the days of camera photos, not cell phone photos. I remember that I had cut my hair short so that I could look even more like Peggy and Susan!

A few weeks later I received a letter from my birth mother Irene.

"Saw Peggy, Paul and Scott over last weekend, so got her pictures (of their visit to Gloucester to meet me) and then when we got home on Monday, there were yours. They were all great, and I can't believe how much we look alike. There is one picture, especially, that Peggy took - no doubt you are my daughter!" (Sadly, I don't seem to have the photo that she's referring to.)