Tony Trapani was having a mundane day like any other day when he decided to clean his wife’s filing cabinet. She passed away recently, and Rapids knew he had to live alone from then. It was then he strongly wished for a child, something the couple tried throughout the 50 years of their marriage. Unfortunately, they couldn’t conceive, and his wife eventually died childless, leaving him all alone at 81, or at least that’s what he thought.
As he was discarding files he didn’t think were important, he came across an old letter addressed to him. The letter read:
“Dear Tony,
I bet you are surprised to hear from me after so many years," the letter started. The writer had written she was "thinking about you tonight" like "so many other nights."
He realized the letter was from a woman, Shirley Childress, whom he had dated before he married his wife. And the next paragraph blew his mind away.
“Tony, please don't be angry or surprised by this. I have a little boy. He is five years old now with gray eyes and black hair. What I am trying to say is, he is your son. Please, if you can find it in your heart to forgive me, come and see him. Every day he asks me where his daddy is, and believe me, I can't answer him anymore. I would be forever grateful if you would just see him. I will close now, hoping and praying you will answer.”
Trapani figured out his wife had found the letter and kept it away upon reading its contents. In the letter, his ex-girlfriend mentioned that her son’s name was Samuel Childress. With help from his sister, Arlene Schulte, he found Samuel via Facebook.
By then, Samuel was 61 years old and had long buried his dream of finding his father. So when Arlene contacted him regarding his father, he was surprised. After a few days, he agreed to meet the old man.
It was an instant connection for Samuel and Tony. They could understand each other and started developing a bond. “He’s my full son,” said Tony while talking about Samuel.
However, they decided to conduct a DNA test to ensure they were, in fact, son and father. After giving the samples, Samuel and Tony kept meeting and getting to know each other to compensate for their lost time. That’s when another bombshell hit.
They came out negative, showing the two weren’t related. Although it broke their hearts to know this, they remained in contact. In fact, Samuel said he wouldn’t ever search for his father ever again because he had already found him.
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