When one young couple was torn apart by tragedy too soon, their six-month-old son was left to be raised by a grieving widow. However, things would soon take a turn nobody could have expected…
Young Love
Ryan Talbotson met his wife, Holly, when they were in college. The two instantly fell head over heels. After five years together, Ryan proposed, and the two moved in together. Eventually, they decided they wanted to start a family.
Parenthood
Soon enough, Holly learned she was pregnant with a baby boy. She and Ryan were floating on air. Parenthood wasn’t easy, but the young couple took it in stride. Sadly, six months after baby Sam was born, their lives were changed forever…
The Worst News
One night, Holly went out to the store to pick up diapers for Sam while Ryan stayed home with the baby. That’s when he received a phone call that made him fall to his knees: Holly wasn’t going to make it home.
Things Would Never Be the Same
On the way back, Holly’s car had been t-boned at high speed by a drunk driver. The driver broke a few bones and sustained other minor injuries, but otherwise made it out unscathed. Holly died on impact. Ryan didn’t know how he was going to raise their six-month-old baby on his own…
No Justice
The driver was charged with vehicular homicide and driving under the influence. He was sentenced to ten years in prison. Nobody else had been hurt in the crash, but Holly’s life was lost.
Single Dad
Ryan didn’t know if he’d ever recover, but he had to pull himself together for Sam, who would grow up without any memories of his mother. The void in Ryan never healed, but he poured everything he could into raising their son…
The Years Went On
Years passed. Ryan tried dating again, but it was never a priority. He didn’t feel as though he was ready to remarry and any woman he pursued always came second to Sam. Ryan was filling the role of two parents while dealing with his own emotions…
Keeping It Together
It was hard to juggle mourning and raising a baby. He tried to keep his breakdowns private. The grief came in waves. However, he had come to realize that taking care of Sam was his favorite thing in the world, and it was the only thing that made him feel close to Holly. As Sam grew into a toddler, Ryan started considering something crazy…
More Than One?
Holly had always talked about having two children. Ryan believed she would have had ten if she could. He had secured a job as an engineering consultant which allowed flexible hours and substantial pay. Bearing all this in mind, Ryan decided to ask his son the big question.
An Addition to the Family
Ryan asked Sam if he would ever be interested in having a sibling. He could have never anticipated the little boy’s response…
Mommy’s Gift
Sam admitted to Ryan that he had always wanted a brother. Then he said, “It’s mommy’s gift to us to have a full family.” Ryan had to excuse himself to another room so Sam wouldn’t see him cry.
Not an Easy Path
Ryan began to research adoption. Unfortunately, he soon learned there were more obstacles than he ever could have imagined…
Gut Punch
“The whole adoption process sucks and is one punch in the gut after another,” Ryan later said. At the time Ryan started looking into adoption, Sam was six years old. Things didn’t come easy for either of them…
On His Own
Ryan found that being a single father significantly lowered his chances of being able to adopt. Adoption agencies were wary of allowing him to foster or adopt an older child. Other people thought he was just trying to fill a void after his wife had died…
What Was His Motivation?
Some people asked Ryan if he was “losing it.” Why would he want another kid when he had a six-year-old to raise all on his own? Ryan figured these responses were fair, but not true to his story…
Giving Back
Ryan felt like he had something left to give. He wanted to help out a child who needed a parent. “I had the ability to give to a child,” he said. “By giving I received thousands of times over, so it’s actually selfish, but wasn’t meant to be.”
Pretty Penny
Not only was adopting as a single father almost impossible, but there was a hefty price tag that accompanied the process. It was going to cost Ryan $20,000 if he was even approved in the first place…
Support System
Luckily, Ryan’s job was more than accommodating. The company knew what he had been through in the past few years and padded his payroll. They also offered him extra time off to meet with people at adoption agencies. On top of it all, Ryan had filed a lawsuit against the driver who had killed his wife.
What Was He Getting Himself Into?
Ryan planned to use the money he received in the lawsuit to help cover the cost of adoption… if he was ever approved, that was. Ryan soon began to hear horror stories of adoptions gone wrong.
Scared of Failure
Ryan was warned that some shady agencies allowed birth mothers to promise their kids to two, three, or even four families at a time in order to steal their money. He didn’t want to get cold feet, but he couldn’t risk losing anything else, much less disappointing his son…
It Had Been 2 Years
Before Ryan knew it, almost two years had passed, and he still wasn’t a candidate for adoption. He became disheartened, but couldn’t let himself give up.
Private Agency
Ryan decided to try going through a private adoption agency. He figured it would take a ton of convincing on his part, but surprisingly, that was far from the case…
Blessed
The very first agency Ryan went to took him in and made him their mission. “I barely talked to them for five minutes and the director was telling everyone to make this happen and walked out crying,” Ryan said. “I was lucky and blessed to find them.”
Finding a Match
Ryan was instructed to make an adoption profile where birth mothers would be able to look at his page and learn more about him. “It’s really that simple — swipe left or right. It’s deeper than Tinder but not much different,” he said.
Money Matters
After the birth mother initially picks a pool of potential candidates, it boils down to one lucky person or family. Ryan had heard it could involve a lot of interviews. In worse cases, it was a matter of money. He didn’t specify whether he wanted a boy or a girl to avoid lowering his chances…
Good News
Ryan had been through the gutwrenching experience of having not one, but two birth mothers choose him as a candidate only to later revoke the decision. When the agency called to tell him a third birth mother had selected him, he was afraid to get his hopes up…
Finally Happening
Ryan was shocked to learn that the adoption would be going through. Soon, Ryan would be the new father of another baby boy. Sam was going to be the big brother he always wanted to be!
Fatherhood Round Two
Ryan and Sam were overjoyed when they finally took home the baby. “That kid is a freaking rockstar,” Ryan said. “I’m making sure to double the time and love, not to cut it in half.” Meanwhile, Ryan had to get used to raising an infant again…
What She Would Have Wanted
Ryan found this time much easier than the last. Even though he was mourning Holly and would be for the rest of his life, he knew she would have wanted exactly this. The baby was only two weeks old…
Nothing Compares
When someone asked whether Ryan missed sleep, he said, “I honestly enjoyed those long nights the first time around. And now even more. Sick I know it seems, right? But for me and the baby, quiet rocking and feeding overnight, just the light from the mobile and nursery rhymes playing? That’s so special, a little sleep is nothing compared to that.”