Family is more than just blood relations; it’s more than just the relations you have through marriage. Family is your team for life. They are the ones who make a lifetime of memories with. Sure, you can have that with friends too, but you and your family share a legacy that could be traced in one family history.
There are, however, unfortunate events and circumstances when family members lose touch with each other. Still, there could come a time when you might start wondering about that aunt or cousin and think about how nice it would be to have them at the next family reunion.
Find and Reconnect with Long Lost Family
In this day and age, finding long lost family members has become easier. You can even discover family ties to people you never thought were related to you. You could go the old school route of physically scouring places where your long-lost family might be or hiring a private investigator. You may also opt to use any of the following easy and convenient ways to track down family members.
Search Engines
Almost, if not everything, can be found online nowadays. You can do a quick search on various search engines like Google. You just enter the name of your relative, and you might get lucky and find them on the first go. You can also do a reverse phone number search or reverse images search if you have this information for a better chance of finding them.
Social Media Platforms
The same principle applies to various social media platforms like Facebook. Almost everyone has a social media account. Social media is an effective and convenient way to get in touch with people no matter where they may be across the globe. This also makes it a convenient way to search for family members that you’ve lost contact throughout the years.
People Search Sites
There are several reliable and free people search sites or engines. You can enter details about a family member you want to track like their name or phone number. You may also narrow down your search to a particular state especially if you have their last known address and phone number. There are also sites referred to as genealogy sites which are designed for people searching long lost family members or tracking family trees.
People search sites and genealogy sites are probably the best methods to use when it comes to tracking down family members. They have a deep and wide repertoire of data that you could easily access, thereby greatly increasing your chances of finding and reconnecting with your family.
Sweet Reunions and Heartwarming Stories
While every reunion is special in its own way, there are family reunion stories that are extra sweet and heartwarming. Here are a couple of stories of families that were separated or lost contact with each other for years and were reunited in such amazing ways.
Sisters Reunite!
Jan is a nice old lady who lives by herself. She babysat for a lot of the families that lived in her apartment building. She would tell stories about her family to the kids she babysat. One of them, who is a teen now, decided to surprise Jan by trying to track down her family. After a few days of trying, the teen got lucky in one people search engine and found a lady that seemed to fit Jan’s description of her sister. The teen got in touch with her, and it turned out to be Jan’s sister. The families for whom Jan babysat came together to fly Jan’s sister in and surprise her. After a tearful reunion of the sisters, they had a rooftop party to celebrate family.
A Surprise Reunion!
Amy grew up without knowing her paternal grandfather. Her dad, Peter, growing older by the day, became more open about how much he misses his Dad and how badly he wants to see him, even just once before he dies. When Peter got diagnosed with prostate cancer, Amy became more determined to find her grandfather who would have been in his 80s by then. Amy kept it to herself mainly because she feared that her Grandfather might already be dead and didn’t want to get her father’s hopes up. She finally managed to track her grandfather in a retirement home. She then brought Peter to reunite with his dad after almost six decades. It was an emotional reunion with an unexpected happy twist. Amy recognized a name posted on a bulletin board from one of her online searches. That person, who is actually her Grandfather’s favorite nurse, turned out to be the granddaughter of her grandfather’s sister. Neither her Grandfather nor the nurse knew about it. The little reunion turned into a big family reunion a week later.
Family refers to the people with whom you share a history that goes back to your ancestors. Hence, they should be the ones with whom you continue to make great memories with – stories that could be talked about in family gatherings of generations to come.
