The Unexpected Finds of Genealogy

I thought doing genealogy would be just a fun occassional past time.  How wrong I was!!  I must admit I'm addicted.  Addicted to the point my husband had put time limits on my evening fun.  Yep, it got that bad.
I already knew quite a bit about both sides of my family tree, so I wasn't expecting it to be that much more than I already knew.  I soon found that there was so much I didn't know.  I became obsessed with filling in missing blanks.  Oh, the rush of getting to a dead end was pure adrenaline.  Trying to hunt down a piece of history with little to no information is maddening and so exciting.  You start to fill like your solving a mystery, and in a way you are.  These people were alive and had stories to tell.  Unfortunately, my people could barely write their names so you had to keep your fingers crossed that someone along the way felt their story was worth passing along and someone would keep it alive.
Searching census' and trying to find enough information to find an obituary is just part of the fun.  I was able to trace my line back to the Mayflower, and the finds along the way are truly life changing.  A wife and mother who lost her husband and 2 children in the Civil War, asking for her land that had been promised to them when they offered their life.  She was strong and wanted what her family deserved.  The deaths at such a young age by things that are so preventable now, was simply heartbreaking.  The babies and mothers that died and were buried together because C-sections weren't an option or not done right.  I'm not sure which one it was.  
With the bad there is always good.  One of the most exciting things is when you can help someone else.  I received an email one day from a gentleman trying to connect to my online tree.  He had been adopted as a child and later in life reconnected with his birthmother.  The information she gave him, which was limited, would have put him as my 5th cousin, but my family tree had no mention of his father.  Well, I immediately dove into that mystery.  His father, Earl, had been given up for adoption by his 14 year old mother to her older sister.  Her husband had gone to war not knowing she was pregnant and died several months later.  Her husbands family didn't believe she was pregnant with their sons child and wanted no part of it.    Many years later, Earl, tried to reconnect with his fathers family.  Unfortunately, many of them did not except him, they had made good lives for themselves and thought he was trying to scam them.  Many did't know of him or that he ever existed.  It's true that sometime history repeats himself.  Earl died never knowing about his son.  He was stationed in England, he was sent back to the states never knowing his girlfriend was pregnant and her with no way of getting in touch, chose to give their child up for adoption.  
How will this story end??  We found out he does have half siblings, but women change their names and living people are so much harder to get information on then the dead.  
Even though my cousin and I have never met in person we still work together, researching to find other family members he can make contact with.
Its not about forming life long relationships with strangers as much as just knowing who you are and where you came from.  The good and the bad.