LovePrints. Leaving love behind for others. Leaving more love than you found. An act of love.

My name. My father. My life.

My name is Pearson. I am a Garner. I could say that my name is Garner, and I am a Pearson. I am the genetic gift of a Garner. It answers many questions. It leads to more questions.

The people of Ancestry and Ancestry DNA investigators spent months digging through dna relatives, family records, census reports, obituaries, and conversations with family members to identify my father. Along the way, I discovered history, relatives, and siblings. I discovered more of who I am and why I am. I found out that science is a powerful tool. It has provided me with a sense of self that I did not know was missing. I was solid in who I thought I was. I have more facts now. I have more truth now. I have more of me now.

I won’t get to know my father in one sense. He passed away in 1994. I am getting to know him now through my family and siblings. The stories have started to come forward, and while I will never KNOW him, I will know of him at least. I will have more of him than I have ever had of my father before. That is a blessing.

What I know is that he had my face. He had my love of baseball. He had a family of amazingly beautiful and strong women around him, and he lived a life in full. I had always wondered where my love of the game of baseball came from. It was not a constant with the siblings I grew up with. He had a twin, which for some reason makes me smile. When I first saw pictures of the twins, it was with them in baseball uniforms. I sent the picture to my wife. I did not know which twin was my father, but my wife immediately said “your father is on the right”. I said that I didn’t know, and she responded “it’s the look. You give me that look all of the time”. I was so full.

My life has been a wonderful journey through bumps, bruises, and disappointments. My life has also been a ridiculous ride of successes and experiences that I would not believe if you told me would happen decades ago. I am constantly favored. I am constantly blessed. To receive more love, more family, more brothers and sisters, and more truth is just mind blowing. Each day is a new gift to be unwrapped, with new relatives and new love.

I cant find the words to tell you what it feels like to look at his face. There is nothing that I can say about what it feels like to sit in a room with relatives that you did now know looked just like you. A room full of the same facial expressions and mannerisms. A room full of same souls and love.

I also found out that I have another hometown in Clarksville, Virginia, filled with more faces, more history, more family, and more love. I am planning my trip home to my fatherland. I am told that there waiting for me is a street with the family name on it. Talk about tears. I know that I will stand there at that corner and look up. There will be some tears flowing on that day, I can tell you that.

He gave me all of this. That is a LovePrint. My. Oh. My.