Orphan Woman Picks up Abandoned Backpack on the Street and Finds Her Childhood Photo Inside – Story of the Day

Karen Adam grew up in an orphanage, and the only treasure she possessed was an old cropped picture of her with her parents. One day, she visited the location in the photo and found an abandoned backpack on a bench. She rummaged for the owner's address but found the other half of her childhood picture in it. A little later, she froze in surprise after meeting someone.

"Oh my, this is unbelievable!" Karen exclaimed in confusion, staring at an old photo she'd just recovered from a dusty old box in the attic. "It's been many years, and I don't remember anything about the other part…where did it go?"

The picture was cropped, and Karen only had one half. For some reason, she knew there had to be something peculiar about the missing second half of the photograph, and she was right…

Karen's only memorable treasure was an old photograph of her with her parents. | Source: Pexels

Karen Adam's routine during her spare time mostly involved gardening and cleaning. She was a doctor who ran a small clinic on the outskirts of town. Her husband, Steven, was a realtor and her two sons went to primary grades in school.

Karen grew up most of her life in an orphanage in the neighboring town and moved to another town after marrying Steven. Since she was given away to the orphanage when she was five, nobody was interested in adopting her.

Growing up, she was deprived of the love she needed. She studied and lived with the nuns until she turned 18 and moved out to launch her life independently. While moving out, Karen carried a small box and an old suitcase.

It wasn't an elaborate box but just a dusty, old wooden chest that looked like an oversized jewelry box containing her hairclips, ribbons, buttons, and the only torn photo she had of her parents…

Until 18, Karen was raised in an orphanage. | Source: Pexels

Karen was enjoying her day off alone at home one weekend when she decided to do some gardening and cleaning. Since Steven had taken their two boys to a basketball tournament in the city, she had two full days to relax and run errands.

After an exhausting two hours of dusting around, Karen decided to clean the attic. She knew it was the untidiest place in the house that needed a lot of cleaning. She climbed up the ladder, coughing and clearing the cobwebs that caked her face.

"Oh my, go away…Shoo! Shoo!" she shrieked, tapping off the little spiders crawling on her dress. She had begun to clean the place when she found the wooden box she'd discarded after moving there. Although she knew about the box's contents, she opened it to look because it had been many years since she last saw it.

After rummaging through the items, she picked the old photograph of her parents. It was cropped, and she had no idea where the other half was. Just then, something peculiar caught her eye.

"I… I've seen this place somewhere…wait, where is this?" she exclaimed, staring at the familiar bridge in the backdrop of the picture. Smitten by curiosity, she took a picture of the photo on her phone and did a reverse image search on Google.

A bridge on the picture's backdrop caught Karen's attention. | Source: Pexels

Out of the several online results, Karen found the ideal match in a stone arch bridge in the neighboring town where she grew up. "I must go there tomorrow and see for myself!" she mumbled. She was also excited to revisit the forgotten spot she'd been with her parents when young.

The following day, Karen took a taxi to the bridge. She got down and walked around the place, observing it. She held the photo against one of the arches to see if it was the exact location portrayed in the picture.

"Good gracious! This is it!" Karen exclaimed after getting an almost perfect match of the landscape on the photo and the one on the bridge. "So, my parents were here???"

As Karen walked toward the bridge, she found an abandoned backpack on a bench. She was curious and assumed somebody had lost it. After looking around, she sat down to open it and look for any papers or addresses to notify the owner.

Just as she rummaged through the contents, she felt something like flimsy cardboard in her hand. She thought it was a visiting card and pulled it out, only to freeze in shock when a cropped old photo slipped out…

Karen found a backpack on a bench & searched for the owner's address. | Source: Unsplash

"I don't believe this!" Karen shouted in surprise. She conjoined her picture with the one she had just found, and they fit like perfect pieces of a puzzle. Karen was shocked because, in the second half, she saw a little girl, probably two, holding her mom's hand.

"Who is she? And what is she doing with us in this photo?" Karen mumbled. But before she could think of anything else, she heard a loud voice behind her.

"HEY, WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING??? TAKE YOUR HANDS OFF MY BAG!" a woman yelled at Karen. "Don't you have any manners not to fidget with someone else's things???"

Karen was a bit taken aback. She explained that she wanted to find the bag's owner and return it. But as she closely observed the woman, she was stunned.

A woman stormed at Karen, asking her to back off from her bag. | Source: Pexels

"That same dimple!" Karen exclaimed in confusion. She showed the woman the first half of the photograph and joined it with the one she had just found. "This one here is me...Who is the little girl holding my mom's hand???"

The two women stared at each other in disbelief. After a brief pause, the lady inched closer to Karen. "SISTER! IT'S ME, VIOLET!" she screamed in joy. "I'm your younger sister!"

As it turned out, Karen and Violet were given away to the orphanage after their parents died in a car crash. They were raised for a few days in different sections of the same orphanage. A kind couple adopted Violet while Karen was left behind.

"I come here every day and wait here, hoping someone would bring the second half of the picture one day!" Violet revealed. "I am a remote game developer, so I bring my laptop and work here almost daily."

That day changed Karen and Violet's lives forever. The sisters reunited and went home, hugging each other and talking about the good things that happened to them. They often hung out together and even took many selfies on the bridge that reunited them!

After years of no contact, Karen united with her long-lost sister, Violet. | Source: Unsplash

What can we learn from this story?

• You may never know what surprises fate has for you. After finding the details about the bridge in the old photograph, Karen adventured to the spot to see how it looked in person. But she discovered the second half of the photo and eventually reunited with her lost sister, Violet.
• Don't jump to a conclusion about someone without verifying facts. When Violet saw Karen fidgeting with her backpack, she yelled at her. But after she saw the conjoined photo of her childhood, she realized that Karen was her sister, and she united with her.

If you liked reading this story, here's a touching one about a man who carried an old friend in a wheelchair to the mountain top to help him disperse his wife's ashes.

This account is inspired by our reader's story and written by a professional writer. Any resemblance to actual names or locations is purely coincidental. All images are for illustration purposes only. Please share your story with us; maybe it will change someone's life. If you want to share your story, please send it to info@amomama.com.