LONG BEACH, CA (Today.com) — When Lindsey Collins first met Mark High, he was at her house to take her mom, Jamie, on a date. The then 9-year-old girl showed him all her stuffed animals and a huge binder of Pokemon cards. He sat beside her and listened to everything she said.
“He was acting so interested,” Collins, of Long Beach, California, told TODAY.
She soon learned that his attentiveness wasn’t a one-time thing. As his relationship with Jamie developed, High showed Collins that she was an important part of his life, too.
“I always treated her like she was my daughter,” he told TODAY. “In my mind, I would adopt her in a heartbeat.”
The family often talked about High adopting Collins, but they never followed through with it. Collins, now 26, wanted to do something special for her stepfather this past Father’s Day, and decided it was time to ask him to adopt her.
“It is never too late. If anything ever happened to my mom, their marriage is the only thing that signifies that we’re connected,” she said. “I wanted to be his daughter.”
She gift-wrapped the papers and recorded High’s reaction as he opened it.
“No way!” he said, before breaking into happy tears.
“I was totally surprised,” he said. “I lost it, because I always wanted to be her father.”Read more about their relationship at Today.com
