Oh, wow. That uncertainty hold a whole lot.

I recently ran across an article by a woman who learned that yes, her mother's ob/gyn was her bio-father, unbeknownst to both of her proper parents. It seems that they had gone to a fertility doctor, whose actual 'miracle' method when the male was infertile was to switch sperm samples after some sciencey legerdemain where he "cleansed" the donors sperm and turned it potent.

Turns out she has a set of half-siblings produced by the same con. Some of those half-siblings have full siblings because their infertile parents went back to Dr. Miracle more than once...

Toddson, that is A LOT. Do you need any help we can give (money/calling the company pretending to be you)?

I am sad that my ambivilance about my found family lead to the death of one of my favorite hobbies- I did geneology research on a lot of other families-- just once I found fascinating from obituaries and such, or gravestones. But now going on Ancestry.com causes me a sick guilty feeling about my other family and not telling my mother. And yet I am still sort of convinces telling my mom is a bad idea.

Aw, Sophia. I'm sorry that's so fraught.

Hey, ND! Yeah, DNA Painter and Genetic Affairs for clustering. Whenever I see an Ancestry suggestion for how a new match might be related, I kind of want to pat it and say "No, shhhh, that's sweet, I'm dealing with multiple 'family wreaths' here, go have a nap, I got this".

Most of what I learned about the DNA side of genealogy come from my friend Julie. She's the one who did almost all of the work to track down both of my birth parents. She has a fun podcast called Cutoff Genes if you want to check it out.

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The last two days the dogs are sooooo barky. Bailey was worse yesterday. Miley today. I have no idea why. Only thing that gets her to quiet down is going outside and I am not inclined to leave her outside in the hottest part of the day.

I started this post at 4:30. Since then I wrapped up work, poured myself another glass of wine and took them both out int he backyard until their dinner time, then back outside and they wandered the yard while I repotted 4 plants.

They have calmed and both conked out while I baked a pie and puttered in the kitchen. I think a shower and early bed with a long got to sleep podcast.

Sophia, I really think protecting your mother's feelings is something to be proud of.

Hang in there, Toddson.

In regard to the fertility doctor who, um, helped infertile couples - there was a pretty serious scandal a number of years ago about a doctor who did just that. I don't remember the details, including his name, but I think SNL did a sketch about it. I'm not sure if any of the family did some extramarital reproduction, although one great-uncle did look to have a different gene pool in his background. Most of my family's drama has been in the here and now, although just about all the people who'd caused drama are either dead or completely estranged. My mother thought my father's family were a bunch of ignorant hicks and didn't want anything to do with them. She hated her half-sister and cut her off decades ago. Warm and fuzzy wasn't in my family's repertoire.

And thanks for the offer of help. Thankfully, I've been saving for 18 months for this move. I've bought some new furniture, new rugs and will be buying a bunch of new household items (Target, here I come!). So financially I am OK ... it's just the hassle and general exhaustion. I'm trying to do some unpacking in the new place ... I have some antique china that should go to a new home - it's been in boxes for, oh, 20 years or so. I'm sure someone would like to give it a good home.

That sounds like a truly terrible move, Toddson. I hope you can get settled in and never move again!

If you aren't overwhelmed with work/life after the move, selling china by the piece on ebay or local FB marketplace can be fun and make some $$ (depending on the pattern/condition).

China pieces can also be nice to use around a house for planters, catch-all bowls...