When A Man Adopted An Orphaned Boy, He Had No Idea His Son Would Make History
Life didn’t start out too well for the two-year-old that Florida native Jerry Windle adopted at the turn of the century. Then known as Pisey, the youngster was living in a Cambodian orphanage at the time, half-starved and suffering from a chronic infection. So few could have predicted the history-making journey that they were both about to make.
Parenting dream
As he told TV show Good Morning America in 2021 Jerry had always dreamed of being a father. He said, “That was something just innately part of who I was.” But back in the 1990s Jerry believed that his status as a single man would prevent him from achieving his ambitions of parenthood.
Fresh hope
Jerry admitted that he’d been despondent about this situation during his 20s. All the same, he eventually began to accept that fatherhood was likely to be out of reach. Yet a trip to the doctor’s in his mid-30s ended up giving him fresh hope that having a kid was still a possibility.
Light-bulb moment
Yes, while waiting to see a medic for an unrelated issue, Jerry noticed a magazine article about a single man who’d gone through the adoption process. And suddenly a light-bulb moment occurred. He told Good Morning America (GMA), “I called the agency [named in the article] and just said, ‘Is it possible for a single person to adopt?’ and they said, ‘Yes.’”
Little darling
Jerry certainly didn’t waste any time. Within a week he’d received and sent off an application to become an adoptive parent. Soon after, Jerry was informed about a youngster living in an orphanage in Cambodia, whose name Pisey translated as ‘little darling.’ The aspiring father later claimed he instantly knew the boy was destined to be his son.
