My Brother Where Art Thou? Been here all the time. This story adds more substance to the sayings "life is stranger than fiction" and "you never quite know who you are talking to".
Indeed.
But...is such testing so wonderful as to make for absolute proof ??
(I accept my family where & when it is found - no DNA tests required.)
Same here, Brother! 
Happy New Year to you and Isamorph, and to all my brothers and sisters on Nth Circle. May 2018 be your best year ever!
Cogent points. I suppose one could say the only absolute is that nothing is absolute, and around and around we go. And: "Love the one(s) you're with" or "home is where the heart is" may be the the way to family. What I thought was interesting about the happy brother's situation was the thought, assuming the DNA results were firm, that the one brother who was adopted must have had, because he was a lifelong friend of the brother who lived with his mother, many interactions with his biological mother without a clue that it was his mother, and one wonders if the mother had any clue that this friend of her son was the child she gave up for adoption. Perhaps the ingredients for a bad TV movie.
Another interesting twist to all things ancestry is the fact that somewhere between one and three per cent of people do not have the biological parents they think they have, which throws a wrench into the accuracy of genealogical trees, sans DNA evidence. Somewhere in those trees are broken branches that complicate who and when.
Yes, maybe we can ring in the New Year with gold purchases from....yes, that Amazon. And maybe this coming year I will meet that sister I never knew I had. But I'm absolutely certain there will be no meeting with unknown children.:ohmy:
And speaking of the below and/or bad TV movies...:
A very personal bit of telling, freely shared in the spirit of openness only=>
There once WAS a man - a very selfish, self-centered, addicted, dishonest, violently abusive & neglectful man - who happened to also be he who was labeled 'my father'.
There are many possible details to share, but I'll only add that there was never any sort of close relationship possible with that man, and strong evidence of zero genetic relation between us.
That is merely the back story - as the result is actually much better...
Having that seriously bad example to refuse, as well as that man's siblings to be repulsed by and other really rotten 'family' in the wings, was a great way to learn of better 'relatives' from all walks of life who in fact have no genetic relation whatsoever with me, as time has passed - and this is exactly what came to bring good fortune in my own life.
Most of the incredible, very best folks I have been fortunate to know and be close with - have been those who have been accepted as 'true family' vs, those who were indeed suposed to be genetically related who were actually not possible to even relate with at best.
Further - of those in the distant past whose behaviours were impressively rotten...:
Regardless of whether they had any clues about it, they were actually the best teachers, lighting the way for those willing souls subjected to them to seek a better way of living if desired...which is exactly how I chose to see those folks - forgive them completely for any/all trespasses, and have a better life as results of such choices made consciously & deliberately.
That all is what I meant by my 1st reply here.
My only true wish nowadays (not being the travelling sort anymore) would be to somehow easily spend some time face to face with the more amazing folks who have been 'met' via the internet - because there have been a significant number of those folks who have shown their good Heartedness right through the barriers of having only screens of words with which to do so !!
Best Wishes to All for a Happy & Healthy 2018.
You've said it well, E_Z. Finding the "right" family is all. Bring on 2018.