Grab the tissues! Two women who considered themselves mother and daughter for decades finally made it official on Tuesday, June 9. Muriel Clayton, 92, adopted Mary Smith, 76, in a Dallas courthouse — and the tears were flowing!
According to the Today show, Clayton and Smith are actually cousins. Smith's father died of a heart attack and her mother suffered from a mental illness, which left Clayton as Smith's parent figure.
"She always fit in beautifully," Clayton told Today. "She was always my child and everybody knew that. We even look quite a bit alike."
Clayton, who has four other children, surprised Smith with the adoption idea this past Mother's Day. "I said, 'I need to ask you something.' And she looked at me, and probably thought, 'Oh my goodness, mother is going into a nursing home or something,'" Clayton recalled. "I said, 'I've thought about really adopting you for real for a long time, how do you feel about that?' And her face just lit up beautifully and she said, 'That is the sweetest thing I've ever heard.'"
On the day of the adoption, the women showed up to the courthouse in coordinating purple outfits. They also were given flowers and took photos.
"I've been a part of the family for 62 years, kind of permanently already," Smith told Today. "I was really pleasantly surprised that she would come up with that. She's very much that way — she always comes up with something special."
