A man battling the grief of losing his family adopts a girl with Down syndrome and gives her a loving home. Nine years later, he gets a call from a stranger and finds out the girl he adopted is a millionaire.
It was a beautiful, sunny day, and birds were chirping merrily in the skies. Nothing seemed wrong with the world outside. But for 33-year-old Brian, it was the darkest day of his life.
Brian’s loving wife, Lyra, and his only daughter, Amy, were killed in a car accident that morning. He shuddered as he rushed to the police station for identification and saw their pale faces hidden beneath thin white covers. How could God be so cruel? How could he take his family away from him?
As they were buried, Brian felt like someone had drained out the blood in his body. He couldn’t take his eyes away from the fresh mounds of Earth beneath which his wife and daughter lay, and at one point, he wished he was the one there, not them.
After losing Lyra and Amy, Brian felt his life had lost meaning. “Brian, you can’t be stuck like that. You’re young, and you have a whole life ahead of you. The living should live on,” his mom told him one day.
“Mr. Hoffman,” said the lawyer. “Trust me. You’d like to come to my office for this. There is someone you’d like to meet.”
It had been five years since Brian lost his family, but for him, it still seemed like it was only yesterday when he’d seen his wife and daughter’s pale faces. How could he move on? How could he forget that the people he loved the most were no longer with him? It wasn’t easy for him.
One day, Brian returned from work and went about his tedious routine. He sat at his desk, checking reports and completing his office work like he always did. His work kept him occupied and distracted him from his sad thoughts.
He switched the browser tab to his Facebook account, and a post about a little girl with Down syndrome suddenly appeared. Brian would have missed it if it hadn’t been for the message on the post: “…Rejected by 15 families, and yearning for a loving home. Andrea is a lovely girl with special needs and wishes for a family.”
Brian sighed and stared at the post for a few minutes. He needed a family, and so did she. Life had been cruel to both of them in different ways, and perhaps this was God’s way of finally relieving him of pain.
Brian thought about the Facebook post all night, and he wondered if she should adopt the girl. As a single father, he knew the process would be difficult, but this girl really needed a loving home, and he knew he could give her that.
“All right then,” he told himself. “I’ll try.”
The next day, Brian called the number in the Facebook post and expressed his eagerness to adopt Andrea. The woman on the other end provided him with the contact information of the social worker in charge of Andrea’s case.
A few days later, Brian saw little Andrea for the first time, and his eyes welled up. She was a lovely little girl of six, dressed in a blue floral frock and staring at him with puzzled eyes.
Sadly, she was abandoned by her single mother because of her disability. “How sad,” Brian thought to himself as she entered the room.
“Hi, Andrea,” Brian told her gently. “I’m Brian. I’m here to become your parent. Would you like to have me as your dad?”
Andrea didn’t say anything, but she smiled and nodded at him. At that moment, Brian knew he would do anything to provide her with a loving home. And he did just that.
After the exhaustive documentation process, background verification, and parenting workshops, Brian was officially Andrea’s adoptive father and his life found new meaning. They were so happy with each other, so delighted. He was happy to become a father to a little girl again, and he couldn’t have wished for more.
They celebrated her birthdays together, and Brian’s parents loved Andrea too. He tried to be the best dad to her and ensured she never missed out on anything just because she was different from other children.
Brian didn’t even realize when Andrea turned 15 years old. Nine years passed so fast, but he felt as if he had brought his little girl home only yesterday. He was so happy with the turn his life had taken.
But a few months later, things started to get tough. Due to issues at work, Brian lost his job and had to hunt for a new one. He lived off his savings while searching for a job, which proved harder than he thought.
Eventually, things got to the point where he didn’t have enough money for basic necessities. He had to move to a smaller house and was struggling to make ends meet. But one day, help appeared out of nowhere.
Brian received a call from a man claiming to be Andrea’s mother’s lawyer.
“Yeah, so? What do you have to do with my child now?” Brian said angrily. “That woman abandoned my daughter right after birth, and you think I’d be willing to talk to you now?”
“Mr. Hoffman,” said the lawyer. “Trust me. You’d like to come to my office for this. As Andrea’s legal guardian, you will be receiving her mother’s million-dollar legacy on her behalf. And there is someone you should also meet. I’ll send you all the information following the call. I hope to see you this Friday,” he said and hung up.
Brian was understandably shocked. Why did Andrea’s mother leave her such a sizable inheritance if she wanted nothing to do with her child?
That Friday, Brian visited the lawyer’s office and met an old man there who turned out to be Andrea’s grandfather. He said he had no idea about his granddaughter until his daughter was on her deathbed, taking her last breath.
“Andrea,” she’d whispered, as she took his hand in hers. “Her name is Andrea…”
“I’ve missed out on so many years with my granddaughter,” he told Brian sadly. “I’d like to be there for her. I know you took her in legally, but I just want to be there for my grandchild. My daughter regretted abandoning her child in her final days… She was aware of her blunder, which is why she left her assets to her.”
Brian was more than happy to know Andrea had a family. In fact, he didn’t want to separate a granddaughter from her grandad.
Brian would soon take Andrea to her grandfather’s house regularly, so they could spend time together. And with the inheritance money, he paid off his debts and moved into a larger home while saving a considerable amount for Andrea’s future studies.
When he would visit Andrea’s mother’s grave sometimes, he felt a sense of relief in his heart. It made him believe she is content that her daughter had a good life and a loving home.
What can we learn from this story?
The ones who can give love always receive love. Brian was shattered after losing his family, but he still had a lot of love left in his heart. He gave that love to little Andrea, who returned it and became his new family.
You establish a family through love, not necessarily through blood. While Andrea’s biological mother abandoned her shortly after birth, Brian took her in and raised her with love.
SEVENTY YEARS AGO, SHE WAS KICKED OUT FOR BEING IN LOVE WITH A BLACK MAN. NOW, SEE HOW THEY ARE DOING TODAY.
Jake and Mary Jacobs marked their 70th anniversary of a happy marriage last year, but their journey wasn’t simple.
Mary, who is White, and Jake, who is Black, lived in the same city in 1940s Britain. At that time, there weren’t many Black men there.
Even though Mary’s father told her to leave, Mary chose love over easy choices.
“When I told my father I was going to marry Jake, he said, ‘If you marry that man, you will never set foot in this house again.’”
Mary and Jake first met at a technical college where Mary was learning typing and shorthand, and Jake was undergoing Air Force training. They met during the war when Jake moved from Trinidad to Britain.
Jake impressed Mary with his understanding of Shakespeare, and they got to know each other. One day, they invited Mary and her friend to join them for a picnic. Unfortunately, someone passing by saw them and reported Mary to her father. The woman was shocked to see two English girls talking with black guys. After this incident, Mary wasn’t allowed to visit her father again.
After Jake returned to Trinidad, they kept in touch through letters. A few years later, he came back to the U.K. to find a better-paying job.
Jake surprised Mary by proposing, and she, at 19, said yes. However, when she told her family, they kicked her out.
“I left with only one small suitcase. No family came to our registry office wedding in 1948.”
Mary’s father was upset about her marrying a black man, and Mary didn’t realize that society felt the same way.
The early years of their marriage in Birmingham were tough. Mary cried every day, hardly ate, and they faced many challenges. Nobody would talk to them, they couldn’t find a place to live because nobody would rent to a black man, and they had little money.
Even walking down the street together was hard because people would point at them, Mary explained.
Mary and Jake were excited to become parents, but at eight months, Mary gave birth to a stillborn child. She mentioned it wasn’t due to the stress she was under, but it deeply saddened them, and they didn’t have any more children.
As time passed, their lives improved. Mary became a teacher and eventually an assistant principal, while Jake found a job with the Post Office. They made new friends, but Mary felt the need to explain to people that her husband was black before introducing them.
“My father passed away when I was 30, and even though we reconciled by then, he never approved of Jake,” she shared.
Currently, Jake, 89, and Mary, 84, live in Solihull, a town south of Birmingham. They recently celebrated 70 years of marriage.
Jake said he has no regrets, but he also mentioned that today’s black youth may not fully understand the challenges he faced in 1940s Britain.
“When I arrived in the U.K., I faced abuse every day. Once, on a bus, a man rubbed his hands on my neck and said, ‘I wanted to see if the dirt would come off.’ Back then, working in an office as a black man with white girls wasn’t considered safe,” Jake explained.
Despite all the challenges, bias, and abuse, the pair is still deeply in love and has no regrets about being married. They have been happily married for more than 70 years.
These two are a true inspiration, and I wish them a lifetime of pleasure because of the love they have for one another.
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