Oprah's BIG FAMILY SECRET... And MINE (Well Kinda)!!

If you missed Oprah on Monday, you missed an AMAZING show! Oprah revealed a family secret that she's been keeping for a few months.  Back in November, Oprah found out that she has a half sister.  Vernita, Oprah's womb donor mother gave birth to a daughter when Oprah was 9 years old and living with her father.  Vernita never revealed to any of her children that she had given a child up for adoption.  The baby girl she gave up is now 47 year old Patricia.  Like many adopted children, Patricia wanted to know who her birth mother was and started searching.  Long story short, Patrica contacted the adoption agency and they contacted her birth mother (Vernita).  Vernita did not want to be contacted at the time, but the agency did give Patrica a folder containing family information (not including names).  She found out that she had three older siblings and two were deceased (although it didn't list names, it did list their ages and birth years).  She said she also knew that one of her sisters shared the same name as hers (I'm not sure how she knew that).  Anywho, when she was told that her mother did not want to be contacted, she said she didnt sweat it because she knew GOD was going to let her know who she was.  That VERY SAME DAY she was watching television when a speacial about Oprah's mother, Vernita came on.  Vernita spoke of her life and her children (of course mentioning them by name) and stated that two of them had passed on.  Patricia said the hairs on the back of her neck stood up.  Of course she was in total disbelief that she could be OPRAH's sister.  Patrica and her son checked the date of birth for Oprah to see if it matched the date for the one remaining sibling and it matched.  All of this took place back in 2007, Patricia tried to contact her birth mother a few more times and even tried contacting Harpo studies.  After getting no response from either, she went to the restaurant of what she assumed to be her niece (her deceased sister Pat's child).  Her niece, said she immediately saw her mother in Patricia.  After talking with Patricia and seeing all the paperwork, the two decided to have a DNA test done.  It came back 89 percent positive that they were related.  HONAYYYYY!! Can you IMAGINE living 47 years and then waking up as OPRAH WINFREY'S SISTER? I was sitting there watching the show in amazement.  Oprah and Patricia finally met on Thanksgiving and it was a beautiful sight.  It made me smile when Patricia hugged her and said "my big sister", it was simply BEAUTIFUL.  I'm trying to find the show for you guys cuz me telling the story simply isnt the same as hearing it from their mouths.

Although Oprah's mother seemed hesitant at first (and still), the other members of the family welcomed her with open arms.  Oprah could have very easily chose to ignore her "little sister", but she chose to embrace her.  As I was watching this story unfold, it made me think of my own family.  Our story was recently mentioned in the February 2011 issue of Sister 2 Sister Magazine and Oprah's story simply made me want to share it here.  If you're not tired of reading just yet, check MORE DISH to hear MY family's story.  It was definitely a "GOD MOMENT", as Oprah would say!



Okay... I don't normally talk about my personal life on DDT, hence the tag line "It's not MY business, but it's a business", however my cousin Memphitz spoke about it in his Sister 2 Sister interview (check it out) so why not.  Not that its a secret or anything, but the story has simply never been told.

 I'm sure everyone in Memphis is aware of the Mickey Wright, Sr. story (if not, you can read about it here).  Just to fill you in a bit, Mickey was my uncle and he was murdered in 2001.  I won't go all into that because this post will go somewhere else. With that info in mind, here's the story.

My daddy just retired from the City of Memphis Fire Department (CONGRATS DADDY), but back in 2004 while at a new fire station he asked his co-workers "who running the hookup", one of his co-workers turned around and answered "me."  My dad said when the guy turned around he dropped his boots and gear and stood in shock.  Daddy stood there so long that the young man playfully asked him "you okay old man", LOL.  Daddy finally said "I'm cool, you just look so much like my brother-in-law" (speaking of my Uncle Mickey).  Neither of them thought much about it and the younger firemen introduced himself as Greg.  The two continued about their day.   Fast forward to 2007..... This year was really hard on my family.  Shelby County District Attorney Bill Gibbons who previously bragged about his "NO DEALS" policy accepted a plea deal with my uncle's murderer (yea, how did that happen?).  This plea deal grabbed the city's attention and the story was back to "breaking news."  It was then that Greg received a phone call from a friend who said "hey man, you're on the news, you need to see this."  Greg then turns on the news, sees my family and then sees a picture of my Uncle Mickey.  Greg couldn't believe what he was seeing, a man that was damn near IDENTICAL to himself.  Greg thought about the fireman back in 2004 that mentioned his brother-in-law and their resemblance.  He had another fireman to contact my father.  After speaking with my father, neither of them really knew what to do next.  Greg's mother had previously passed on so he couldn't go to her and ask why he shared the same face as a total stranger, LOL.  My father (being my father), decided to see what someone else in the family thought.  On one of his off days he drove my mother to the fire station and left her in the car.  He walked back out with Greg at his side.  My mother immediately broke down crying.  She said Greg was apologizing for causing her to cry, she was apologizing for crying and daddy was apologizing for springing it on her LOL.  Now, NOBODY knew what to do.

I heard about it from my mom and dad but didn't think much of it...that is until I saw his face.  My cousin Candy called and said "this is my brother, I'm about to send you a pic."  When I opened that text message I was FLOORED!!! The resemblance is nothing less than amazing!! I called back and said 'yup, that's your brother" LOL.  Shortly after, my other cousins were called and they decided to take a DNA test.  The test results proved what was obvious, he was my Uncle Mickey's son.  Greg was never told that my Uncle Mickey was his father and my Uncle Mickey never knew of Greg.  He was my uncle's first born child and never even knew he existed.  One of the scariest things is that Greg not only LOOKS like my Uncle Mickey, he even has the mannerisms of his father.  A man he never even laid eyes on!  When Oprah spoke of how her new found sister not only had the same name as her deceased sister, but also the mannerisms, I knew exactly what she meant.  In the S2S interview, my cousin Mickey called Greg his "bonus brother" and I thought that was so super cute.  We never knew he even existed but you wouldn't be able to tell at a family function.  He is now a part of our family just like every other member.  One night when we were all partying (and drinking LOL), my older sister looked up at him and said "I'm so glad we found you."  We all are! 

Well, that's my Oprah story/"GOD moment."  I just felt like sharing after hearing Oprah do the same.  People can believe what they want but you can't tell me there isn't a GOD, and he's an AWESOME ONE at that!!!

But wait.. I just called Greg to read him this post before posting and OMG..he sounds JUST LIKE THE REST OF THOSE WRIGHT BROTHERS.. LMBO!!