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'My Life Is Complete': Sisters Reunited Through Genealogy Website

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- They didn't even know each other existed until a few months ago.  Now, two Minnesota sisters are inseparable.

Sarah Johnson and Lori Gelen made the connection in November.  But, as we discovered it seems they've known each other much longer.

It was an aunt putting the finishing touches on their family tree that brought her to Ancestry.com.  Sarah Johnson grew up in Rosemount with an older brother.  They lost their parents a few years back.

But, Sarah never expected her aunt's search to turn up something like this.

"She said you have a sister and I was like what, where, how, who?!" Johnson said.

Sarah's mom was pregnant at 19 and put her baby up for adoption. Turns out, in Bemidji, a certain someone was looking for answers of her own.

What's happened since has changed both of their lives. They met for the first time in Brainerd in November and someone captured it all on their cell phone.

"There's no way to describe it," Sarah Johnson said.

Lori Gelen lost her folks a few years ago, too.

"You're looking at this person who looks like you and you didn't know them a few days before and now all of a sudden you have a sister. It was amazing," Sarah Jounson said.

But, now at 57 and 45, they have new families they're just getting to know.

Lori Gelen and Sarah Johnson
Lori Gelen and Sarah Johnson (credit: CBS)

"I think about you every day. Every single day," Gelen said to Johnson over FaceTime.

An instant connection in a way only a sister can understand.

"I just feel like my life is complete," Gelen said.

How's this for another cool connection? Lori and her mom have the same middle name Jean. By pure coincidence Sarah does, too.

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