- The holiday season is a time to be surrounded by family
and give thanks to the people in our lives who matter most.
Well my next guest has been celebrating holidays
her whole life without one family member,
a sister she never even knew existed.
She's hoping that changes this year.
Please welcome Grace and her husband, Mike.
(audience applauds)
The other Grace.
Well tell us how it all started.
- Well--
- We met online.
- Yeah, so I sent him some pictures of my family.
- Oh, I was like whoa!
(laughing)
- Of my family.
- I was like, just right off the bat, gettin' it out there!
So of your family.
Y'all were just trading info about families.
- [Grace] Yeah, basically. - [Mike] Yeah, yeah.
And I said, I don't know who those people are
but they're not your family,
you're adopted.
- Yeah. - Just tryin' to be funny.
- Which is an odd thing to say.
- Just tryin' to be funny but I was serious
at the same time 'cause I didn't see the resemblance
that you would see in a normal family.
- Yeah at least like one person looks like you.
- [Mike] Right. - [Grace] Right.
- [Mike] Right.
- And I thought he was a little nuts but I'm like, okay.
(laughing)
- It did sound a little nuts if it wasn't real.
Yes, but how did you find out you were adopted?
- Well my aunt actually called me up and she said,
"Just to let you know I want you
"to come over to Fort Lauderdale
"and I have something to tell you, very important."
So we both went over there
and she handed me an envelope and said,
"Just to let you know,
"your mom didn't want me to tell you,
"your cousins didn't want me to tell you,
"but you were adopted."
- Oh, wow.
Okay so I heard it was a health issue
that kind of got you looking for your family?
- Yep. - Right, right.
- Yeah, about eight, ten months ago she started,
you know we were always active,
going to the gym and this and that
and she was doing Zumba - I did Zumba.
Three times a week.
- Get it girl.
- Yeah, so--
- And then all of a sudden she told me one night,
she said, "I had to stop I couldn't finish."
I said what do you mean you couldn't finish?
She said, "I just couldn't do it anymore,
"I lost my breath."
And then over a period of time it got progressively worse
and worse and worse and we had couple of episodes,
let's just call 'em, that we wound up at the ER
and then of course they send us home after three times.
- Did that kind of spring you into action though,
of looking for your real family,
just to know the background, health wise?
- Exactly.
- Yeah, more or less.
And you know, she finally got to a cardiologist.
So I'm like okay, you know fun is fun,
but tonight I'm gonna find your family.
She said, "Well how you gonna do that?"
I said don't worry, my dad was a policeman,
I'll figure it out.
- All right, Columbo!
(laughing)
And that' kind of what it was like, you know.
- So then what happened?
What happened next?
- Well you know, I got home that night
and I ask her on the phone,
I said where is that envelope
and she told me where to look for it in the house.
- 'Cause your aunt had given you the envelope?
- [Grace] Right. - [Mike] Yeah.
- If I didn't have that picture
of my mom and dad and my sister,
then you know people would question.
You know?
I don't have proof.
- It's crazy your aunt kept that picture for so many years.
- [Grace] Exactly.
- So anyway, so on the envelope,
it had the dad's name, where he was from
and this and that so I had a little bit of information, so--
- Yeah, so tell us what happened next, Mike.
- Well, I went home and got on the internet
'cause I found that envelope
and it had some names and areas so I just started
doing search through the computer,
trying to find it,
paid an extra little bit of money
and I got cell phone numbers
and landline numbers and stuff like that.
So I just started figuring hey, I'm gonna send texts out--
- It's kinda fun.
- Yeah, yeah, yeah. - Just find it.
- And then by sending those texts then I was like,
the next night on the way back
from a ball game I got a phone call.
We found out that it was Grace's sister's
that we were actually connected to.
- Right.
- [Kelly] Wow!
- Yeah.
- So what was it like talking to,
her name was Robin, right?
- [Grace] Right.
- What was it like talking to Robin for the first time?
- So I actually spoke to her
and it was like talking in the mirror,
talking to yourself,
because she had the same voice,
she had the same demeanor,
so I just listened to her story
and how she was brought up and all this,
and I said you know,
I felt bad because I wasn't there for her all these years.
- So it wasn't easy? - 'Cause I was the oldest.
- Right, yeah. - Oh, yeah yeah.
- I was the oldest.
So, then she sent us a picture of herself,
and of course he saw it first and he got emotional
and started crying and I'm like, why, why?
You know, and then when I saw it I was like oh my God,
she's the spitting image.
- Yeah and that's what I said,
I said it's like-- - Spitting.
- It's a twin. - It was like clone.
- That's insane!
So are y'all gonna meet with Robin
for Thanksgiving, Christmas?
- In December.
- First week in December. - First week in December.
We're gonna fly up to Philadelphia
and meet up with the family and--
- Oh my gosh! - Yep.
- Well I have something to share.
Grace doesn't have to wait to meet Robin,
because she's backstage.
So, are you ready to meet her right now?
- Oh, no.
- I am so excited for this moment.
Okay, please welcome Grace's sister, Robin y'all!
(audience cheering)
- Oh my gosh!
- You do look alike!
Nice to meet you, Robin!
(laughing)
(audience cheering)
- I don't wanna cry.
(audience cheering)
- Oh my God.
Is this not the craziest story?
It's so crazy.
(audience cheering)
Everybody is so happy for y'all.
So what's is like to finally meet, physically?
- I mean, it's fantastic.
I, you know, I just never, I always had brothers.
- Oh my God y'all look so much alike!
- I always had brothers and you know,
I was the biggest tomboy and there was just no girl in me.
- Like me!
(laughing)
Me too. - Yeah.
And to know that I have a sister is just really cool.
- What are you feeling, Mike?
You worked so hard to find her.
What are you feeling?
- He's emotional, I can tell.
- Right.
Well for me, it's,
I think God's way of bringing family back together.
- [Kelly] Yeah.
- Things happen in your life that put you
in the right place at the right time and you know,
that's what I said to her just a few weeks ago.
You know, if we don't meet, does this ever happen?
Do you, you know, do you ever get that connection?
Does her aunt share the story?
- And all of this coming up there has
to be some kind of purpose for it.
- Right, right.
And that's the thing--
- Everything happens for a reason.
- Right.
- In it's time and you know, when it's supposed to happen.
So, for she and I, it was 50 years later
and for some people it's, you know.
- [Kelly] Oh my gosh, it's so--
- And it's a new chapter in our lives.
- So how are you feeling, Grace?
That's your little sister!
- I know!
I'm the older sister, so I'm like--
- I'm not used to being a little sister,
I'm the oldest at my--
- Now you're so young.
You're so young. - Yes, I know!
- I use it all the time with my sister
except everybody always thinks I'm older, it's fine.
(laughing)
So where do you see your relationship going from here?
Like you said, you're gonna get together in December, right?
- Oh yes.
We're still getting together
and we're gonna continue to see each other all the time.
- Yeah. - Yeah.
And talk all the time. - And talk.