They say that sometimes you can just be in the right place at the right time. That was most certainly the case for two strangers on an airplane a few years back when fate brought them together.
Unbeknownst to either of these women at the time, their encounter would forever change both of their lives.
A Routine Flight
There are multiple Delta flights from Atlanta to Raleigh, New Carolina, every single day. Yet one day in 2018, a woman named Temple Phipps was seated next to a woman named Samantha Snipes, who had missed her connecting flight and wound up on that one instead.
The duo hit it off instantly and began sharing their stories. Snipes was eight months pregnant and had just left an abusive boyfriend. She thought maybe her partner would change after she told him she was pregnant, but it just got worse.
“One night when he put his hands on me again, I was scared and insecure, and I wasn’t even sure how to live on my own at that point,” Snipes told ABC News. “The position I was in, [my baby] wasn't going to have a very good life. He was going to have a struggling life, and I didn't want any of that for him.”
Phipps was sympathetic and revealed that at 42 years old, she had wanted to be a mother but was afraid her time to have a baby had passed. At the time, she was considering fostering or adopting, but as a single mother, all of the agencies she had spoken with passed her by.
“Every time I would inquire, they'd said it ‘really needs to be a two-parent household,’” she recalled.
A Fateful Meeting
As the plane touched down, the women exchanged numbers and said goodbye. A few days later, Snipes gave birth. She called Phipps and asked her to come visit. There, she asked Phipps if she wanted to adopt her son, Vaughn.
“It just felt right talking with her and seeing her with the baby. She looked like she would be a great mother for him and she already looked like she loved him after holding him for an hour. The stuff that I wasn't feeling, she was feeling,” Snipes explained.
After the adoption, Snipes stayed close by and continued to be in contact with the new family. She also began a photography company and wrote a blog about the experience. As for Phipps, she and Vaughn continue to make memories as he grows up.
“I would just say to anybody, don't give up hope. I won the baby lottery for sure, miracles do happen and I think you can manifest those things. And this is what manifested,” Phipps added.
A Complicated Journey
Not everyone’s journey to motherhood has a happy ending. But what’s so touching about this story is that one woman was able to become a mother in the most unexpected way, while someone who wasn’t ready to be a mom found a happy ending for her baby.
It reminds those of us who want to be a parent that there is more than one way to be a mom or dad. Many families deal with infertility, while others, like Phipps, feel like the opportunity to have a child of their own has passed them by. But at the end of the day, there are also many children out there who are in need of a loving home.
If being a mom or dad feels like your calling and you’re open to another way, this story of two fated women and an unborn baby is all the inspiration you need to always hold onto hope.
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