Adopted El Salvadoran sisters meet for first time in Santa Fe

Jun. 12—Elena Graves and Lorena Frank embraced each other for the first time in the tiny baggage claim area of Santa Fe Regional Airport, just months after officially discovering they are biological sisters.

Passengers asked themselves, "What is it about these two young women who just grabbed each other, and they're kind of laughing and crying and doing all this?" recalled Elena's mother, Diane Graves.

The two women, born in El Salvador, recently reunited in Santa Fe, roughly 30 years after being adopted by American families and living their lives more than 1,700 miles apart.

Frank, 32, was adopted by Diane and Glenn Frank when she was 18 months old. She grew up in Toms River, N.J., with an older brother and younger sister.

Elena Graves, 29, was adopted by Diane and Bill Graves when she was 8 months old and grew up as an only child in San Antonio, Texas. She moved to Santa Fe in October.

Elena Graves said she has always understood she had an older sister, though she didn't have much information about her.

"We knew about Lorena. We didn't know her name or anything, but we knew that there was another sister that was born before me," Graves said.

When she was teenager, Graves decided she wanted to meet her only blood relative and made efforts to connect with her.

"I think a big thing for me, was being an only child ... I kind of craved it. I had this longing there could be a sibling out there," she said. "Getting in contact with [her was] a lot harder than expected because we didn't know where to start."

Graves said she had no idea if El Salvador even had records for her or her sister.

"[I'm] not even sure I was even born in a hospital — like it would have been like a real long shot to find people down there," Graves said.

Nevertheless, she went about the hunt, at 15 submitting her DNA to a database that matches potential relatives.

"I threw it out there just in case I'd ever get a bite because I didn't even know where to start," Graves said.

When she was 16, her family worked with an American adoptive mother from San Antonio, who tracked down Frank, who was 19 at the time.

Frank said she was uneasy when her younger sister first reached out; she wasn't ready to start their relationship.

"When she reached out to me, I was like, 'This must be a joke,' " Frank recalled. "I was like, 'Nah, this isn't what I'm looking for' ... so, I shut down for a little bit."

But about 10 years later, Frank said she started to think about the sister who reached out to her. She contacted Graves through Facebook and from there their relationship blossomed.

"I want to say within like 10 minutes I got a response," Frank recalled.

They talked, got to know each other and started to realize how similar they are, despite spending a lifetime apart.

The women look, speak and even walk the same, Diane Graves said.

The ties don't end there: Both went on to study medical assisting and both have an adoptive mother named Diane.

"It's funny because so many people — when they saw their pictures on Facebook — said, 'My gosh, you can see that they're sisters,' " Diane Graves said.

Most important, Graves and Frank said they both understand what it's like growing up as an adopted child.

Though they knew their birth certificates had the name of their biological mother, they wanted to be sure they were actually sisters. Last July, they took a DNA test to discover they both had the same biological parents.

"It was like three days before Christmas and I got a notification on my phone, and I was with my mom and I started like tearing up crying. I was like, 'Holy crap; we're legit sisters,' " Frank said.

Still, for all the things they had in common, there were also some differences. Graves enjoys hiking, the outdoors, painting and art; Frank likes time inside, sports and music.

Though they studied to go into the medical field, their careers went in different directions.

Frank has worked as a medical assistant for a neurologist in New Jersey for about seven years; Graves just started a job as a receptionist for the El Dorado Animal Clinic in Santa Fe.

Though the women knew they wanted to meet in person, the location was uncertain for a time.

"I didn't really think it was gonna happen, to be honest," Graves said. "She has an aunt that lives up here, go figure ... she said, 'Maybe I can come up there and I can see my aunt.' "

A month later Frank, had a plane ticket to Santa Fe.

And then came the hug of two lifetimes.

"This was a big moment," Graves said. "We embraced it like we're gaining new family members, and that's exactly how I felt."