Boynton Beach Police Officer Eric Reynolds spent nearly 50 years thinking that he was the eldest child.
That belief was changed with a swab of saliva and click of a mouse.
“Good morning,” wrote 51-year-old David Stull, an Orange County Sheriff’s Office sergeant. “… we are half-brothers.”
Stull was adopted as an infant, so he took a DNA test to learn more about his family history.
He thought that he might discover a second cousin or two, but he found a half brother just a few miles away.
“I got a big brother now,” Reynolds said with a big grin.
The e-mail surprised Officer Reynolds. He started to wonder which parent they might share and how.
Officer Stull didn’t know how his new-found half brother would react. He wasn’t even sure if his e-mail would be read.
“It’s like waiting for Santa Claus,” Stull said.
Then, fortunately, Officer Stull received a reply. The two brothers met for the first time on July 20. They greeted each other with a hug and vodka shots.
“My birthday was last month and I figured this was the best present,” Stall said.
In addition to gaining a brother, Officer Stull also became an uncle to two young children.
Additional tests showed that the two men shared the same father. Apparently, Stull’s father did not know that he existed. He joked that he gained a “brand new, bouncing baby boy.”
Stull still doesn’t know much about his birth family. He knows that his mother gave birth to him as a teenager. He knows that he was born in New Jersey. It was there that a military family adopted and raised him.
The two brothers are planning a big retirement party for Officer Reynolds in October. For now, they talk to each other constantly.
There hasn’t been a sibling rivalry come up yet, but they tease each other like a couple of brothers.
Officer Stull said his wife always prods him, asking “if he’s texting his brother again,” to which he replies: “Of course! We have 50 years to make up for each other.”
Get the new Feel Good News application in the Google Play Store now.
Need more of today’s positive news stories? Follow us on Facebook and Twitter!
