November is Adoption Awareness month, which means for the last few weeks, heartwarming stories of children being reunited with their birth parents have flooded the Internet. One story that caught our attention is part of a holiday marketing campaign by U.S. department store retailer, Kohl’s.
In Kohl’s #AllTogetherNow video, we meet Raymond, a 19 year-old college student who has lived with his adoptive family since he was two years old.
“My adoptive parents have always been super supportive and loving. They gave me everything a kid can hope for,” says Raymond, packing a few things into a bag as he gets ready to meet his birth mother in California.
“But it was always a big mystery...who are my real parents? I just really wanted to know.”
The young man tracked down his grandmother online and called her, admitting he was nervous, but felt better when he did finally speak to her. “When I found out that I had a grandma, I was like, oh my gosh, cookies and all that good stuff that comes with grandmas,” he said.
Raymond’s grandmother connected him with his birth mother, who called the son she never thought she’d see again.
“I was shocked. I was excited. I was crying,” recalls Raymond’s birth mother of their initial phone call after so many years apart. “I knew he would find me one day, I just didn’t know when.”
Despite having so many questions for his birth mother, Raymond admits he didn’t know what to say when they finally did talk on the phone.
Predictably their reunion is a tearful one, with both Raymond and his birth mother talking about the challenges of being together again as a family. His mom admits that they will take it slow, getting together for birthdays and getting to know each other. This is something we appreciate Kohl’s capturing, since we know not all reunions are fairy tales come true.
Raymond reuniting with his birth mother also has a surprising twist: he has a younger sister born 10 years apart...to the very day!
“To have a sister is just the best feeling in the world,” says Raymond, whose little sister feels the same way.
“I’m just happy I got my brother now and I got my family back together,” says the young girl.
While some people are often quick to jump all over marketers for capitalizing on our emotions with viral videos (which I’m sure if you look in a dictionary, it just *might* be the definition), we love that Kohl’s worked to make a family’s dream come true. And we’re pretty sure Raymond and his family will have a Christmas they will remember for the rest of their lives.
RELATED: Will My Adopted Granddaughter Remember Me? 
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