Just a few months ago, two Florida women were strangers. Now they know that they share the same father.
"I didn't know we were missing anybody," said Christie King, who is excited to get to know her newly found sister, Sally Griffith.
For Griffith, the connection comes after decades of wondering who her biological father was. It all started with a phone call from a cousin when she was 18 years old.
"She said, 'You know that your dad is not your real dad,' and I said, 'What?'" Griffith recalled.
At the time, she confronted her parents, who denied it. Griffith grew up with three older siblings. She was really close to the father who raised her, so she chose not to push.
"I always knew that I would check that out someday," Griffth said. "I knew that I wasn't going to pursue the truth until my parents were no longer here."
Her mother passed away in 2012, and her dad died just last year. Finally, she let herself dig.
"One of the commercials came on for DNA testing, so I decided to buy one of the test kits," she said.
A kit from 23andMe Genetic Testing produced the results this past March. Griffith learned that her father was a man named Bob Morgan. She also learned that he had two other daughters, Christie and Jessica.
DNA testing helped make the first meeting between the women happen. The sisters agreed to do the same genetic testing that Griffith had done, to see if there was a match, and there was.
Their father lives in Tennessee. They all flew there for Griffith's first meeting with him.
"It explained some things about me," she said.
Griffith will never get to meet her two late brothers, but she feels overwhelmed by her newfound answers and her newfound family.
"I told Sally, just so you know, your brothers would be over the moon about you," King said.
"It's so unbelievably awesome," Griffith said. "You just don't know what wonderful blessing could be around the corner."
It turns out her father, who is now 80 years old, didn't know about her. He's eager to get to know her, just like her sisters.
"We are just focusing on getting to know each other … being family," Griffith said.
