a Test

I.

I had not mentioned this, for various personal reasons...but when I was first contacted that my birth parents had been found, we decided to go ahead and conduct a DNA test as a precaution...Modern medical technology is available to us today, so I thought, heck, why not use it?

Dukkyung had emphasized to me that Mrs. Kim is very experienced in birth family reunions and that really there was no reason to doubt that the man and woman found were indeed my birth parents.

But she stated that her top priority was and is to protect me. Therefore, she thought that it would be a good idea to conduct a DNA test--if not simply for the fact that then there would be no doubt whatsoever that this man and woman were the real deal.

Naturally, I agreed.

II.

So, I found myself standing in the mirror over the sink trying to collect twenty strands of hair to stuff into a Ziploc bag and send to the other side of the world, where some person in a lab in Korea would remove them from the plastic bag one by one with gloved hands and maybe a set of tweezers.

I ran the ends of each hair through my index finger and thumb to make sure that the root of the hair was in tact...the lab had emphasized that each hair must have the root attached.

Fortunately, I was able to retrieve some strands from my brush...you don't realize how much twenty strands of hair is until you're actually having to pluck that many out!

Once all twenty strands of hair (plus a few extra strands for backup...) were successfully harvested, I sealed the bag and stuck a Post-It note on the outside that said, "There are some white hairs in here...they're hard to see..."

I felt like a goof writing such a note--I thought to myself, "These lab folks are not idiots, Melissa. You're being a little obsessive." But I just shrugged my shoulders, laughed at myself, and proceeded to justify my paranoia by telling myself: it's not every day you're plucking out hair to send across the seas for a DNA test to confirm that two strangers actually happen to be your biological progenitors.

So, off to Korea the strands of hair flew...

III.

Well, I am happy to report that I just received confirmation today that the DNA test has verified that I am indeed the biological daughter of this man and woman who have emerged from the past, and are now becoming ever more a part of the present.

Hence, for any loving skeptics who have had their concerns or doubts, there no longer remains any question that they are with the utmost certainty the man and woman who gave me life almost 34 years ago...

IV.

All I can do is laugh and weep, all in the same moment.