Anyone ever looked for and found a long-lost relative? Half-sibling, aunt, uncle, g'parents?

[raccoon]

If so, what was your experience like?

Reason I ask is: This is always happening on soaps, and while they may war at first, eventually they become one of the family.
While this may happen sometimes, I doubt it happens nearly as often as on TV.

[distantearlywarning]

1. One found me.

I thought she was really weird, though. So I basically only communicate with her via Facebook.

[Brickbat]

2. My FIL's father abandoned his family when he, FIL, was 10.

Up and left overnight. He got back in touch more than 45 years later, just after FIL's mother died (and FIL's father didn't know she had died). It was very interesting for the entire family, including me.

[grasswire]

3. I'd like to find three cousins.

Their father was my father's brother. He died fairly young, before I was born, and the fam lost touch with their mother. The problem is that the boy's name is extremely common, and the girls probably married at some point.

Sad.

[femmocrat]

4. No, and I don't want any of them looking for me either.

What the hell would we talk about? They are strangers!

[REP]

5. I have a half-brother and half-sister somewhere - we're not looking for eachother

Then again, though we all have the same father, we all changed our names as teenagers, so it would be difficult, even if there was desire. We just share the same father, and he's been dead for 16 years.

[david13]

6. No. I have some whom have not been lost long enough, unfortunately. dc

[NNadir]

7. I would prefer that my brother not find me.

He's sometimes sends me long letters - usually involving his latest "Christian" marriage to a woman half his age - which I no longer read and to which I do not respond in any way.

[GaYellowDawg]

8. Yes.

My sister found two cousins on Facebook. My uncle is a complete asshole, and my cousins grew up hearing all kinds of horrible things about my family. Now that we're all in middle age and he's been a complete asshole to them, too, we've connected. They still feel more like friends than cousins, but we're working on it.

[Jokerman]

9. My wife struck up a conversation with a guy at a xmas party...

Eventually found out they were from the same home town. Soon they were comparing notes about other people they might know in common. When she mentioned the name of an aunt who had lost touch with the family years ago he replied "that's my mother". His mom had remarried and he grew up with his step-dad's last name.

Turns out they're first cousins who hadn't seen each other in more than thirty years.

[Wapsie B]

10. My mom was looking for her birth family for years.

After much work with a local state legislator they were able to open the adoption records in the state previous to 1940. The experience with her biological family turned out to be the best one could ever imagine. They were welcoming and friendly, having us part of their family reunion every year. One of the elders asked my mom what took her so long to find them?