Parallel Lives: Stories of Separated Siblings

Many of us spend childhood days fantasizing about a long-lost sibling or an entire family created out of the ether of a young imagination. Whether these thoughts are inspired by feeling out of place in your family or just the need for a little mystery in your life, it’s normal to let your mind wander about family secrets. While many of these thoughts never materialize and only serve as entertainment for a vivid imagination, there are special cases where these flights of fancy turn out to be true.

Even if you weren’t the type of child to fantasize about long lost family members, that doesn’t mean you don’t have someone out there. Some families hold on to secrets like they are gold or precious stones. Many of the stories of separated siblings either happen at a very young age when memories are only vague or you are raised in fear of asking the wrong question about of your sibling.

Siblings are often separated in the wake of a family crisis that may have started with financial hardship, divorce, immigration or a medical emergency. Many times, these adult events shape the lives of the children and pave the way for them to be raised in separate worlds, not knowing each other as family members.

One of the most remarkable aspects of separated siblings is what comes out in the open when they are reunited. There are numerous reunion stories that reveal startling similarities in personality traits, intelligence, general attitudes and life events. Other than providing a heartwarming clip on the morning news, these stories also provide a rich resource for studying the power of nurture versus nature.

Stories of Separated Siblings Living Parallel Lives

Jim Lewis & Jim Springer—Twin brothers Jim Lewis and Jim Springer were adopted at a young age and raised only 45 miles apart in Ohio. Both were given the name “James” by their adoptive families. As the two boys grew separately into adulthood, they each took on many of the same habits and interests, including Chevy trucks, brand of cigarettes and love of woodworking. None of that seems very unlikely until you learn that they each married women with the same first name. Jim Lewis and Jim Springer both had first wives with the name Linda and then each married women named Betty for their second marriage. After their reunion in 1979, after 39 years of separation, Jim Lewis and Jim Springer found commonalities in their medical history, the timing of life events and general attitudes towards life. Their story of parallel lives was so striking that they were invited to participate in a study of reunited twins.

Bao Lulin & Yang Yanfei—Bao Lulin and Yang Yanfei were sisters given up for adoption as infants and raised by separate families. Neither sister had any idea that there was another sister out in the world, much less a nearby city. Bao Lulin was working as a waitress in a Jiuyang, China, when she was repeatedly confused with a woman named Yang Yanfei. It was to the point that strangers would approach Lulin asking her about recent trips that she hadn’t taken. Finally, her curiosity got the best of her and she asked someone for Yanfei’s address. It was there that the two women first met and were amazed at meeting each other. At first, the two marveled at their physical similarities, but as they got to know each other, more examples of parallel lives came to light. In addition to sharing many of the same favorite foods and hobbies, each sister got married in 2007 to men with the same name and each has a scar in the same spot from accidents that happened when they were six.

All of the stories of siblings reunited serve as a reminder of the strong bonds of family. It shows that connections between family members are intense and can renewed after a long time of separation.