Two women got the best Christmas gift when they met each other for the first time after 73 years after discovering that they are long-lost sisters.
Harriet Carter, 76, and Linda Hoffman, 73, had planned on meeting each other two years ago after taking a DNA test and signing up at Ancestry.Com, where they found out they could be related. However, because of COVID-19, they had to delay their plans but kept with the phone calls and messages every day since finding each other online.
Hoffman revealed that they were a 100 percent match based on their records at the familial website. Their parents, however, "never told a soul" about their existence and took their family's secret to the grave several years ago.
But last December 7, Hoffman finally embraced her long-lost sister at the Denver International Airport after Carter flew in from California. The first words Hoffman blurted out when she saw her sister in the flesh was how much she looked just like their mother.
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Given Up for Adoption
Carter was just a baby when their parents placed her for adoption. The sisters believed that their mother and father hid Carter's birth because they were only 18 years old at that time. Then three years later, Hoffman was born, and the rest is history.
At the airport, the sisters immediately got to catching up with each other as Hoffman brought photos of the family for Carter to see. They sat down at the terminal to look at the pictures, with Hoffman sharing some of her oldest memories about their family to her sister.
"To see all these pictures of the love and the bonding and the closeness...and now that I get older, it's especially relevant," Carter said.
However, Hoffman and Carter agreed that they would not dwell on the years they've lost or missed out. Instead, the sisters plan to embrace and cherish their remaining time together.
Hoffman believes in her heart that they were meant to find each other, and Carter agreed that things happen "when they are supposed to."
Long-Lost Brothers Discover They Are Neighbors
Meanwhile, in Hertfordshire, Leslie and Peter Clark also found each other after a 60-year search. According to The Mirror, Leslie, 88, and Peter, 79, were aware of each other's existence since Peter once visited Leslie's son in the 1960s, but that was the last time they saw each other.
It's unclear how the brothers lost touch, but they discovered they lived in the same neighborhood all these years. Surprisingly, they had never bumped into each other until Leslie took part in a community magazine photoshoot distributed to all households. Peter was shocked to see his brother's face in the magazine.
So, he called the housing community to ask about Leslie and arranged to meet and catch up. Leslie said that he has been looking for Peter for a very long time, but now, it will be fantastic for both of them since they could spend time as much as they want.
