After my husband of 49 years passed away and my children drifted away and almost never called to check on their mother, I felt like my life had no purpose any longer.
I have spent 50 years in the same house where I raised my son and daughter. It was a place once filled with laughter, and now, all you could hear was the silence.
The worst part of all was that I was treated as too old, too lonely, and too broken to matter, and that was the reason my children almost never visited.
But then, one day, everything changed.
During a Sunday service at my church, I heard people speaking of a baby girl left in the hospital. Rumors were her parents didn’t want her because she had Down Syndrome.
Without questioning my sanity, I went to check on the little girl, hoping I could take her home and take care of her despite by advanced age.
Of course, no one would ever give a little baby to a 73-year-old, but there I was, begging the institutions to give both me and that fragile human being a chance. And since no one came asking for Clara—that’s what I named her—I was finally given the green light to submit the adoption papers.
It did take some time, but I was finally able to bring her home.
When my children learned what I had done, they kept calling me on the phone, telling me I was crazy and that I had lost my mind.
“Who would even give a baby to someone so old,” my son asked me. “What can you possibly provide a child that young, are you out of your mind?” my daughter questioned.
Although I sometimes doubted my decision, I knew Clara would be safer with me than lost in the foster system.
Then, one week later, eleven Rolls-Royces pulled up outside my house, and suited men came to my door. I held Clara close, shocked and wondering, “Who are you, and what do you want from us?” And that’s when I learned the truth about the little girl everyone believed no one wanted.
“Are you Clara’s legal guardian?” one of the men asked. I said yes, clutching her close. That’s when he handed me documents — legal papers explaining that Clara’s birth parents were extremely wealthy tech entrepreneurs who had died in a house fire shortly after she was born.
Since no one had ever come forward for Clara, all the wealth, the houses, the cars, the investments, were now hers. People urged me to move into a mansion, hire help, and give her every luxury imaginable. But as I held her in my arms, I knew my choice had never been about money. I adopted her because I loved her, and that was enough.
I sold the mansion, and with that money, I started The Clara Foundation to support children with Down syndrome.
Also, I built the animal sanctuary I had always dreamed of, right next to our modest home. Clara grew up there, in a house filled with love, animals, and purpose. She painted, played the piano, made friends, got into her share of mischief, and shattered every expectation.
Doctors once warned she might struggle to speak, but at ten years old, she stood proudly on stage at a foundation event, delivering a speech that moved everyone to tears.
Clara spent a lot of time at the sanctuary, and that’s where he met Evan, a kind, lovely young man with Down Syndrome.
I saw their friendship turn into love. Clara and Evan married, and I watched from the front row as the girl no one once wanted stood tall as a bride, a leader, and the love of someone’s life.
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Bored Daddy
Love and Peace