Man Surprises His Stepdad With The Ultimate Father's Day Gift — Adoption Papers
It looked like any other gift at first, but what was inside the box brought everyone to tears.
YouTube Blended families come with all kinds of struggles, and relationships between kids and stepparents can often be challenging to manage.
One man and his stepfather seem to have beaten the odds, however, and their relationship is more like father and son than stepfamily. So for Father's Day, the stepson decided to make it official.
The man surprised his stepfather with adoption papers as a Father's Day gift.
Dads can be tough to buy gifts for — the cliché about buying your dad yet another necktie for Father's Day is a cultural joke for a reason. So the giant gift box YouTuber Anglea Hasty Wilson's adult son, Tyler, presented his stepfather with on Father's Day a few years ago had his stepdad feeling special right from the start.
Even the card his stepson gave him hit right in the heartstrings. "If you're gonna cry through this whole thing we can stop" his wife joked as he read the card. But of course, he soldiered on, opening the big box set before him eager to see what was inside.
As the stepfather started going through his box, he found several items that didn't seem to add up to much at first — several cans of his favorite Monster Energy drink, huge packs of his favorite gum and beef jerky — and as he kept digging it became clear that the gift box was mostly a gag.
Photo: YouTube
He did his best to seem appreciative. "I can use these for work! Thank you very much!" he said with feigned enthusiasm. "Oh you're not done," Hasty Wilson's daughter, who filmed the video, then said. "There's one more."
At the bottom of the box beneath all the gags was an envelope containing his actual present — adoption papers as a Father's Day gift.
As the stepdad began digging down to the bottom of the box, sure enough there was one gift left underneath a heap of packing material: a framed photo of he and his stepson, along with a poem which read, "Some people would say you’re not my real Dad / But we know this isn’t true... Although we’re not tied by bloodlines / the Love and Trust you’ve given me / Is a precious gift / Day after day and that’s what counts as a Real Dad to me / So let’s just make it official..."
The stepfather was immediately choked up. "Thank you," he murmured, barely able to get the words out. When he flipped the photo over, an envelope was stuck to the back. "Open it," Hasty Wilson said, and as soon as he removed the papers from inside, he collapsed into tears.
Photo: YouTube
"I'm gonna change my name too," Tyler said as he too began to cry. The two men then embraced in a giant hug as Hasty Wilson said, "Another Wilson boy!"
The video shows just how much it can mean when a person chooses to be a parent to us, and people online have been deeply moved by it.
Many people on YouTube and TikTok who viewed the video seemed just as teary-eyed as Tyler and his stepdad ended up being. "That moment he knew for sure he’s done an amazing job... he now knows without a doubt the love is stronger than he probably thought," one user wrote.
Another commenter mused that "a love that is chosen is sometimes that much sweeter," and several applauded the stepdad for clearly having deeply invested in his relationship with Tyler.
As a YouTube commenter put it, "This man had always been his father. The papers were just a sign from the son that it was noted, appreciated and wholeheartedly cherished. Good work sir."
Photo: YouTube
The video also inspired people who are currently in step-parent roles themselves. "Man, I PRAY that I make this kind of an impact on my step-daughter," one man on YouTube wrote. "She doesn't have to ask me to adopt her... but just for her to know I love her, and for her to love me like this."
The saying goes that "blood is thicker than water," but it takes a special kind of person to actually choose to take on the role of a parent to someone else. We should all be so lucky as Tyler to have someone like this to step up for us. Hopefully he has a great Father's Day this weekend. He certainly deserves it.
John Sundholm is a news and entertainment writer who covers pop culture, social justice and human interest topics.