Jordan Dickerson, left, and Robin Jeter discovered only in mid-January that they are sisters. They went to high school about 10 miles away from one another and met at a track meet when friends commented on how much they looked alike.(Photo: WUSA-TV, Washington)

They go to high school about 10 miles from one another.

Story Highlights

• Older sister stayed with her mother then went into foster care, got legal guardian
• Younger sister was adopted shortly after she was born about 9 months later
• They have at least two other siblings and hope to find more

WASHINGTON — For 17 years, two sisters lived in the same city, played the same sports but never crossed paths.

Jordan Dickerson, a junior at Woodrow Wilson High School here, knew that she had been adopted shortly after her birth. Robin Jeter, a senior at Friendship Collegiate Academy public charter school, bounced around from her biological mother to foster care to a legal guardian.

Then on Jan. 9, the two teens went to the same track meet.

"My team was like, 'She looks just like you,' " Dickerson said. The two talked briefly at the meet, and once Dickerson found out Jeter's last name, she started crying.

"I had already known about my adoption, and I knew my last name was Jeter," Dickerson said. That night, the two girls, separated in age by about nine months, talked on the phone and attempted to reconstruct the previous 17 years.

"I asked her: 'What's your mother's name on your birth certificate? What's your birthday? What does your birth certificate say at the bottom?" Jeter said.

Dickerson laughed as she recounted that conversation.

"I was like, 'What is this, an interrogation?' " Dickerson said.

It was, but it resulted in an amazing discovery. After all these years, these look-alikes were indeed sisters.

"I was so anxious to know more about her: Where did she go to school? How old was she? What is she like?" Dickerson said.

They're a lot alike actually: Same shoe size, same double jointed thumbs. They even sound alike.

"People can't even tell us apart on the phone," Jeter said. "We're always just playing around with people on the phone."

The reunion almost didn't happen. Dickerson decided to try out for the track team only to stay in shape.

"If I wouldn't have, I would have never met her," Dickerson said. "I'm so thankful I joined track."

They both acknowledge their relationship is in the honeymoon stage and that they have more serious days and more serious issues ahead. They are two of several separated brothers and sisters. So far, four have been found, and they want to look together for more.

"At first, I didn't know I had any siblings," Jeter said. "As time went on, I only knew I had one sibling. I didn't know I had any more."

Until they find more, the sisters go to each other's houses each weekend, laugh at childhood photographs, and talk and talk and talk.

"It's been so long I just feel like I'll never be apart from her," Dickerson said.

Dave Owens, WUSA-TV, Washington

Source: usatoday.com