00:00I love those kids very much, just like my own. My heart just felt like it grew two sizes.
00:06Ten years ago, me and Melody worked together on Sealsby Little League. We were both single at
00:12the time, and we both had daughters in softball. Jimmy was my coach, and then, you know, my parents
00:18got together, and ever since I can remember, me and Jimmy had just really bonded over softball.
00:24McKinley was just a diehard softball player. Like, she eat, breathed, sleep. That was all she wanted to do.
00:30We just bonded over that, and I just took it and ran with it, you know, and we became like
00:38two peas in a pod.
00:40The day before my senior softball game, I was like, I want him to adopt me. Like, he's my dad,
00:44and at the end of the day, he's always going to be my dad, no matter what. My parents walked
00:48me off.
00:50And then I had one of the girls bring me up, like, a little bag, and I handed it to
00:56him.
00:57I'm like, wait, what? I had no idea. She handed me my favorite picture in a frame,
01:02and then it was a folder. I opened the folder up, and at first, I didn't know what it was.
01:14I'm just reading from the top down, and then I see the word adoption, and that's all. I mean,
01:21I lost it. I couldn't believe it.
01:29I never have seen him react that way, just because he's not a very emotional person,
01:34and so getting to see him react that way and, like, have almost a loss of words really just,
01:39like, touched my heart, and I was just so, so grateful in that moment.
01:44It was one of the happiest moments of my life. It really was.
01:46In a way, I mean, it does change things. On paper, he's my dad, but he's always been my dad,
01:51so that never changes. I'm so grateful, and I couldn't ask for a better dad.
