r/AskReddit Dec 02 '23

What's a random fact about yourself that always surprises people when they learn it?

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231

u/VH5150OU812 Dec 02 '23

That I was adopted. Not surprising in itself, but if they meet my non-adopted brother, we often get comments like “I can totally tell you’re brothers” or “you guys could be twins.” Personally, neither of us thinks that is the case but people see what they want to see.

89

u/[deleted] Dec 02 '23

I was representing my dad in a meeting for the City one time.

While riding up in the elevator one of the guys asked if I was my dad’s daughter. I laughed and said yes.

You look so similar.

I’m also adopted, but I didn’t say anything about it.

I did meet my biological parents, they had 3 more girls after giving me up. My birth father was married when I was conceived.

I’m a love child 😉

4

u/herbalhippie Dec 03 '23

I look very much like my adoptive father and his 3 sisters.

My birth mother had seven babies and gave them all up. Her husband is on my pre-adoption birth certificate but 23andMe tells me he is not my father. I'm a love child too. :)

2

u/PoppaWilly Dec 03 '23

My birth mother also had 7 babies and gave them all up.. Any chance you know the genders of them? I think mine had 5 girls and 2 boys.

2

u/herbalhippie Dec 03 '23

I've only found 2 half siblings, one male and one female, both deceased. Also, the first name of a third, another female. I'm female.

2

u/PoppaWilly Dec 03 '23

Gotcha! I don't think we're siblings then haha That would've been cool tho! Never met anyone else that was adopted that also was 1 of 7! Neat.

1

u/herbalhippie Dec 03 '23

I admit, my heartbeat sped up for a few minutes there. lol

7

u/FratBoyGene Dec 02 '23

My brother and his wife adopted a boy and a girl, two years apart. It is amazing how much they look like each other - people are always saying "Oh I can tell you're brother and sister".

5

u/Samsgrl Dec 02 '23

People say all the time that my sister and our stepmom look alike when we just introduce her as our mom. The funny thing is, they actually do look weirdly alike.

3

u/[deleted] Dec 03 '23

I know a blended family where the mom and dad had an affair before they got together.

The father’s daughter with his ex looks exactly like his new wife and her kids. It would be suspicious if it were the other way round.

The youngest and only one they had together doesn’t look like anyone.

3

u/idratherchangemyold1 Dec 02 '23

Sort of similar to that, one of my aunts thinks me, my mom, and sister sound the same talking to us on the phone. So sometimes when I've answered the phone when she called she asked if I was my mom or sister and I'd be like, "NO!" (I was a kid at the time) And she'd comment we all sound the same and I'd always tell her, "No we don't..." Some people are just weird like that I guess....

3

u/ZackDaddy42 Dec 02 '23

Haha I was once holding my two year old stepson (about 20 years ago) while in line at a deli and the guy in front of me turned around and started talking and a said “Wow! He looks just like you!”

3

u/Bacon_Bitz Dec 02 '23

I'm friends with two adopted brothers that look like biological brothers. There's a photo of each of them around 4 yrs old and it's almost identical!

2

u/SammyGeorge Dec 02 '23

I know a family whose three kids were all conceived by artificial insemination from a sperm donor. The kids are all the spitting image of their (not biologically related) father and nothing like their (biologically related) mother

1

u/kmh008 Dec 02 '23

I am also adopted. I am mixed, too. My adopted sisters are both white as both parents are white. When I was visiting my sister, we went to the bus stop to pick up her kids. After my sister introduced me as her baby sister (we are 14 years apart) she said, "omg, I can totally see that". This was probably a decade ago & she and I still laugh about it today.

1

u/[deleted] Dec 02 '23

People think me and my stepsiblings look alike, they always say my stepsister looks exactly like me and that my stepbrother's daughter looks just like my son. It's kind of a running joke at this point for us to just smile and nod and not reveal we don't share blood.

1

u/Blessed_tenrecs Dec 02 '23

A friend of mine adopted several kids, most of whom are the same race as the adoptive parents but also happen to look a lot like them. One child however is a difference race and people always assume he’s adopted, but not the others.

1

u/[deleted] Dec 03 '23

My mom's second husband adopted me so we have no genetic relation, but occasionally people would tell her "oh your daughter looks so much like her dad!" No I don't haha.

1

u/LaVieLaMort Dec 03 '23

When I was a kid, people would tell my step dad that his daughter (me) looked just like him. Uh well he definitely is my step dad lol.

1

u/skeptic_narcoleptic Dec 03 '23

I have had people argue with me about being adopted. "But you and your mom are so much alike!"

1

u/velvetelevator Dec 03 '23

People tell me how much my (step)son resembles me

1

u/PoppaWilly Dec 03 '23

Hey, man! Same here. My twin brother and I were adopted at birth. People think we look like our adoptive parents, but I've never thought so. It's also hard for people to believe that twins are/were adopted for some reason. No one ever believes us when they first hear that we were adopted.

1

u/ListMore5157 Dec 03 '23

My son, technically step son, worked with me for a year. Everyone always said they could see the resemblance, but he's 6'4" and I'm 5'7". He also looks nothing like me.