Life can work in funny ways. Sometimes we can’t help but think that we were meant to be in a certain situation, even if we didn’t know why at the time. Fate later reveals itself, and the pieces of the puzzle suddenly click into place.
That may have been how one man felt after he realized that the co-worker he had recently become friends with was actually his biological father.
Adopted at Birth
Nathan Boos always knew he was adopted. He never knew his biological parents or even their names. But his adoptive parents were open with him and explained he had been given up at birth because his first parents couldn’t afford to give him life's basic necessities.
So, Boos’ biological mom selected adoptive parents who also happened to be distant cousins that lived in a nearby town. No one had any idea at the time just how close that town would be.
"Growing up I always knew that I was adopted, it just never crossed my mind that I would ever find my parents,” Boos told WEAU13 News.
Years later, Boos became a truck driver in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin. There, he struck up a friendship with a man named Bob Degaro.
A Facebook Discovery
One day while scrolling Facebook, Boos’ adoptive mom made a shocking discovery. She realized that her son had somehow befriended his biological dad on the social media platform.
“She just went on my Facebook and went through my friends' list and brought up his picture and I said, 'Get out of here,'” Boos recalled. “I about fell out of my seat,” he added.
Boos decided to message Degaro and ask if he knew his biological mother.
“I’m like, ‘Yeah, that’s my ex-wife…’ and I about fell out of my seat,” Degaro recalled. "It’s still kind of a shock, and there's days I'm not sure exactly what to say or how to act… I mean, he is my son, but we didn't have that father-son relationship growing up, and then we became working partners before we knew who we really were.”
Both men say the reveal has brought them a sense of peace, and they plan on building their friendship. Until then, they’re taking things one day at a time. Or “one mile” at a time to put it in trucker terms.
Timing Is Everything
This incredible story went viral, and many people speculated that perhaps the men were somehow drawn to each other because of their blood relation. That may have been the case, or maybe this is one of those stories where things just worked out like they were supposed to.
Degaro wasn’t ready to be a father when his then-wife became pregnant, and the couple did what was best for the baby. He sacrificed his relationship with his son, but what kind of a relationship would it have been?
Instead, Boos was raised by adoptive parents who were able to provide for him, both emotionally and financially. Years later when Boos met his biological father, they were both in a better headspace to pursue a relationship because of it.
It’s not always easy to hear things like, “It wasn’t meant to be” or “Timing is everything,” especially when you’re in the middle of a rough time or situation. But this story proves that sometimes things do work out in the end, and there is always the potential for starting over.
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Two little children sitting on a couchBrittany Cole / ABC News