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(CNN) — Dixon Handshaw thought he was an only child for most of his life. But decades after being adopted, the 75-year-old learned he has a handful of siblings, whom he met just in time for the holidays.
Over the weekend, Handshaw – who lives in North Carolina – flew to Rochester, New York, where he met some of his half-siblings ahead of the family’s annual Christmas party.
“All my life, I dreamed about having siblings somewhere,” Handshaw told CNN affiliate WHAM, which captured the siblings’ first meeting at the airport on Friday. “This is my Christmas miracle.”
On Saturday, Handshaw met over 50 relatives he didn’t know existed until earlier this year, he told CNN on Tuesday. The gathering, which included cousins and their children, was a welcome surprise for Handshaw, who was the only child to his adoptive parents and has no children of his own.
“I’ve never met anybody who shares my DNA,” Handshaw said. But as soon as he met his relatives they immediately clicked, Handshaw said. “It was wonderful,” he added. “I have never felt such an outpouring of unconditional love as I had from my new family.”
Born in Buffalo, New York, in 1949, Handshaw was adopted at three months old and had a happy childhood, he said, adding that his parents were honest about his adoption.
“I always wanted to find them, but New York State sealed the pre-adoption birth certificates, and it was impossible to find out,” Handshaw said.
In 2020, original birth certificates were unsealed for adopted New Yorkers following the passage of a 2019 law.
Handshaw received his original birth certificate in August of this year, he told CNN. It was then he learned the name of his biological father: Robert “Bud” Romig.
“The first thing I did when I got my father’s name was Google him, and up pops his obituary,” Handshaw said. “Not only was I shocked to see that I looked exactly like him, but I immediately knew that I had all these brothers and a sister.”
Handshaw does not know why he was put up for adoption, but he knows his father was a graduate student in Cornell University’s physics department. His mom was the department secretary, he said.
His biological mother did not have any more children, Handshaw said, but he always wondered if his father had any of his own.
Following Handshaw’s birth, Romig settled down in Rochester with a woman who had three sons of her own. Romig adopted the three boys, Handshaw said. The couple went on to have five children – four boys and a girl. Handshaw contacted Gary Romig, one of his father’s adopted sons, he told CNN.
“I chose Gary as the one that I would call because I knew he was adopted and I was adopted, and so I thought he would be empathetic to my situation,” Handshaw said.
Gary was at work eating lunch when he got his first call from Handshaw, according to CNN affiliate WHAM.
“I got a phone call and I didn’t recognize the number. I hardly ever answer the phone if I don’t recognize the number. But for some reason, I answered it,” Romig said. “And he says, ‘Hi, my name is Dixon. Are you Gary Romig?’ I said, ‘I am.’ He goes, ‘I’m your brother,’ and I’m like, ‘What?’”
Handshaw sent a photo of himself to Romig, who immediately recognized his stepfather’s face. “I sent him a picture, and (Gary) sent the picture out to all his siblings,” Handshaw said. “They said, ‘It’s dad!’” Gary kept his siblings in suspense for two and a half hours before he finally said, ‘That’s your new brother,’” Handshaw told CNN.
Though Handshaw is not spending Christmas Day with his new family, he intends to spend more time with them in the near future.
“We’re going to go camping together this summer,” he said, adding that he and his siblings already have a designated text group. “We’re on it every day,” Handshaw said.
Right now, Handshaw and his siblings are making up for lost time, but their meeting is better late than never, he noted.
“I had great adoptive parents. They were wonderful. I love them and I miss them, but I always wanted siblings, and now I have them,” Handshaw told CNN. “I thought one or two would be great. I got six!”
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