A Florida man received an unusual gift for his 53rd birthday this week — adoption papers from his stepdaughter.
At first, David Lynde joked as he opened his present.
“I got a pen,” he said.
But when he pulled out legal papers and began reading them, the joking stopped.
“Am I adopting you?” Lynde asked his stepdaughter, 22-year-old Gabby Guardardo.
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Posted by ABC World News Tonight with David Muir on Wednesday, August 31, 2016
“I want you to,” Guardado said. “You don’t have to. You can say no. But I want you to adopt me.”
Lynde began to cry as he hugged Guardado.
“You have no idea what that means to me,” he said.
Even though Guardado is older than 18, Florida law allows adult adoption.
ABC News reported that Guardado had wanted Lynde to adopt her for years. But her birth father — who left when she was 8 — wouldn’t allow it.
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