A woman has shared a tear-filled first-ever hug with her biological father after 25 years, having tracked him down through Facebook and then waited four years to finally meet. Maria Robinson, 25, from North Carolina, didn't know her biological dad, Jorge, who lives in California, growing up but always had the urge to find him. Jorge met Maria's mom while he was working in Alaska, and though the pair dated, they were never serious, Maria said. Years later, Maria started looking for her father and was able to track him down through Whitepages. She then started researching her relatives' names, and having reached out to whom she believed to be her sister, Hailey, on Facebook, Maria received an enthusiastic response. That was pre-COVID, and after the pandemic had passed – and having made contact with Jorge, 53 – Maria decided it was time to finally meet her father. She and Hailey arranged the visit, which saw Maria arrive at Jorge’s house in California on July 3.
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00 Maria had waited for this moment for 25 years.
00:04 - Oh, I thought he knew I was coming.
00:06 (child laughing)
00:09 Oh my God!
00:10 - Maria first found out she had a different dad
00:13 than her sisters when she was nine years old.
00:16 - And so ever since then, I had questioned my mom,
00:20 like, you know, I'm nine, so I'm like,
00:22 what does that mean?
00:23 Like, I didn't know, like, I thought,
00:26 I thought their dad was my dad.
00:27 Like, I just had so many questions.
00:29 - And since then, she really wanted to find him
00:32 and meet him.
00:33 - Family is the most important thing.
00:35 I knew that this was my lifetime goal.
00:37 I wanted to meet my dad,
00:38 no matter what people were saying about it.
00:41 Like, this is what I wanted,
00:42 and I knew it was gonna make me happy.
00:44 - So when she couldn't find him on social media,
00:47 she looked up his relatives.
00:49 - And that's when I came across Haley, who's my sister.
00:52 I didn't know at the time,
00:54 so I just messaged her and sure enough,
00:57 she was saying, "Oh yeah, that's my dad."
00:59 - And they were so happy to welcome her to California,
01:02 coming all the way from North Carolina.
01:05 - Oh, I thought he knew I was coming.
01:08 (baby laughing)
01:10 - Oh my God!
01:11 - What the?
01:13 - Oh my God!
01:14 (screaming)
01:16 - Hi baby!
01:16 Hi!
01:19 It's not FaceTime no more?
01:21 - Who's that?
01:22 - Auntie, hi!
01:24 Hello!
01:27 - Hello!
01:28 - Ready to get out of the car?
01:30 Let's go, come on, it's hot, it's hot!
01:33 - And finally, the time had come
01:37 to share a hug with her dad for the first time.
01:40 - What?
01:43 (soft music)
01:45 - Hold my shot, hold my shot, hold my shot!
01:49 - Hi, welcome!
01:51 - Oh my gosh!
01:52 Oh my gosh!
01:54 (soft music)
01:57 - Yeah, everyone was just happy.
02:10 Everyone was waiting for me in the living room.
02:12 My grandma was clapping, you know.
02:15 It was,
02:16 it was like a magical event, really.
02:20 (soft music)
02:22 - That initial hug, you know,
02:33 him,
02:35 I'm just like kind of speechless, I'm sorry, but yeah.
02:40 It was amazing, it was amazing, my man.
02:42 - And she told us it's also amazing
02:44 how they're so alike and fit in so perfectly
02:48 into each other's lives.
02:51 - Growing up, it was kind of like,
02:53 I kind of felt like just different from my sisters,
02:58 you know, I'm different from you guys,
02:59 and it's because I have a dad and I don't even know him.
03:02 And so when I finally found him, it was like,
03:05 it was breathtaking.
03:07 I was extremely happy, I wasn't mad or,
03:09 I didn't have any grudge, I was just complete happiness.