As the show went on it was nearly like a fairy tale that was just being aired. How could this have been kept so secret to the point that Oprah was able to hold off press until her actual show aired? I've seen a few of her behind the scenes show on OWN and its crazy how many people it takes to produce a show, surely someone would of blabbed or sold out by now! Well apparently there are still people left in this world with some class and better yet character. One of those being the long lost half sister that Oprah just learned she had this October (2010)
A beautiful story about a young woman named Patricia who was given up for adoption in 1963 began to unfold. A story of sadness through the foster care system hit me as I do foster care myself. But a story of triumph in that while a single mom of two kids pulls herself out of the cycle. She becomes a strong hard working mom of two, free of drugs, free of the abusive boyfriend, but now free of the aching to find her long lost family. For years she searched tyring to get the records and finally they were given to her. As she browsed through them there were no names but several birth dates of siblings that she had. This made her longing stronger as she now knew there were others out there, she had siblings! She continued pursuing and researching and things just didn't seem to go her way. The one thing that was revealed to her was that two of her siblings had died and her mom couldn't bring herself to accept the invitation from social services to reunite with her now grown daughter.
Where does a coincidence end and a supernatural intervention begin? I don't know but in seeing this story I can really say it was intervention because it's just too much to conclude she just 'got lucky'. She kept up hope that someday she would reconnect with her family. Not knowing who she was related to or if she saw someone on the street who looked like her, thinking was it a relative? Her children also didn't have a maternal lineage that they knew of and it plagued their hearts too from being fully complete. But still she held on to the faith and the promise that God would show her who her mom was. So how did it ever line up to make any sense?
After being rejected over the phone for the second time by social services telling her that her mom declined to reconnect, a local news show featuring a story about Oprah Winfrey's mom was on t.v. In the segment the interviewer asked her about the adult children she had that died, and low and behold there were striking similarities from that of Patricia's adoption paperwork referencing her deceased siblings. She called her son on the phone and just put it out there -that could this be true? Are we related to Oprah? Is Oprah's mom my mom? After her son did the research and they matched up all the birth dates of the four siblings- it was pretty much assumed- Oprah was Patricia's oldest sister.
The test in character was that this wasn't the point at which they went on the news after being rejected by Harpo studios and many other attempted contacts (go figure they probably have whack jobs on a daily basis wishing they were related to Oprah) rather they kept this a secret since 2007. Patricia and her children's discernment led them to be very concerned of the magnitude of the secret and actually empathize with how Oprah would take the news. While working two jobs Patricia never cashed in on the temptation to sell her story to a magazine or some talk show. She felt family things should be handled in the family, and her vow to keep this secret was really an amazing test in personal strength and honor. She later reached out to the daughter of deceased sister Pat who owned a BBQ restaurant and when she told her that she believed she was her mother's sister, a wave of emotion consumed them. On the walls of the establishment were pictures of the late Pat and she was a striking resemblance, if not twin of Pat, not only in looks by mannerisms. While they were years apart they were just identical. This led them to agree to later DNA tests to verify, but everyone in the family that met her knew before the results were in just off of her looks. It was as if their mother came back to life almost...
10 minutes before Oprah was to go on stage to tape she begged her assistant to clarify the back and forth 'secret' that was going on through a wicked game of phone tag and her assistant said "Oprah, you have a sister". What a blow- now go tape a show! So at Thanksgiving 2010 Oprah and Stedmond traveled to meet her sister Patricia for the first time. While there is a lot of things to process as a family it was beautiful to see Oprah get so emotional on stage today by sharing how over the years of fame, its nearly impossible not to get sold out by everyone, including family, who was trying to get something from her or make a buck off her fame. She wept w/ emotion in thanking her new sister for not going to the tabloids or exposing this in the press. Oprah and her family believed that for them to share it on her show today was how they would maintain control over the details as it would get out anyway. There were lessons about shame being released and about the power of God to bring forth a promise and a revelation that would forever change their lives. Oprah now has a living sister, whom she said gives closure to her late sister on her 'greatest day' as her late sister struggled with drug addiction. Pat's children have an aunt that is like their mom alive but well, their mother can now release the shame that she has been carrying since 1963 and accept another daughter and the hole in Patricia and her children's heart has now been filled with a new found family.
The irony is that no one knows why she was named Patricia, the same name of her older sister Pat who died. Their mother says she did not name her Patricia when she gave her up for adoption. But of all the names in the world for her to have how strange. The fact that Oprah produced a movie years ago about a sister that comes back from the dead in Beloved. The moment she was rejected from social service's contact with her mom, the news program aired with specific dates of her deceased siblings. Its all a lot to swallow but in the spirit of thinking that Oprah is too big, too rich and too powerful to be stricken by a case of the 'human being', is just simply un true. If I asked myself could I hold onto a secret that big if working two jobs struggling over two kids- alone? I'm not sure I could of, but her faithfulness in doing the right thing I am sure will beyond pay off. And not just in her bank account, but rather pay off in her life long relationship with her new family, as a respectable addition to be trusted and welcomed. And yes I'm sure she'll be getting spoiled too soon and never have to worry about money, nor will her kids- I mean "Auntie Oprah" does have a nice ring to it!!! I know I'm a sucker for 'You get a car! You're going to Australia' but this time its "Oprah! You get a sister!!!!" - Something her money could never buy....
Oprah show snipet
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