An 81-year-old Michigan man discovered he had a son after recenlty finding a letter hidden by his now deceased wife.
Tony Trapani, who thought he never had children, was clearing out his late wife's old filing cabinet at his Grand Rapids home when he came across a letter a woman sent him in 1953, Fox 17 reported Monday.
"I have a little boy," the woman wrote. "He is five years old now. What I'm trying to say Tony is he is your son. He was born November 13th, 1953."
Now, over five decades later, Trapani met his now 61-year-old son for the first time last Sunday. His son, Samuel Childress, knew his mother sent the letter but grew up in Pennsylvania all these years thinking his dad was never interested in finding him.
"I always asked my mom, I said, 'Well what does he look like?' She said, 'Well, go look in the mirror,'" Childress told Fox 17.
Trapani believes his wife came across the letter and hid it in the filing cabinet this whole time. But the now happy father does not understand why she kept it from him because his wife, who could not conceive, wanted kids.
"She wanted children. She couldn't have any. She tried and tried," Trapani told the station.
"He's my full son that I've had my whole life. But why my wife hid that letter is beyond me."
Whatever her reasons were, Trapani and Childress are focusing on getting to know each other as father and son instead of focusing on the past, the station reported.
"Just to know him is important to me," Childress said. "It's going to fill that void."
