Man finds birth mom 22 years later — at work

“We met at a neutral place,” Tallady said. “I walked in; I saw him sitting there. He got out of his seat, and we just hugged and hugged and hugged and cried and cried. It was very emotional, very emotional.”

The best part for Tallady was seeing how well her son’s adoptive parents had done in raising him.

“He’s a good person, just a really good person,” she said. “It just makes you proud he turned out this way.”

For Flaig, the meeting filled what had been an empty space in his life. “It’s something that’s just kind of missing in your life,” he said. “It crosses your mind every day, thinking that this person’s out there somewhere, and I would love to meet them someday. It’s worked out wonderfully.”

‘They are just ecstatic ’
His roommate, Joel Brinks, told NBC that the meeting has changed Flaig profoundly.

“He’s infinitely happier,” Brinks said. “He constantly has a smile on his face and seems a lot more excited than he has been in a long time.”

That smile was still on his face as he sat next to his birth mother in the TODAY studio in New York, looking at her frequently and smiling fondly.

Tallady, too, was glowing. She’s married now, with two children, Alexandra, 12, and Brandon, 10. Her husband has known ever since they’ve been married that she had another son who’d been given up for adoption, and had supported her decision to meet with him. When she came home last Friday after having lunch with Flaig, he told her she was radiant.

She sat down with her two children and told them that she had just met their older half brother.

“Tears — tears of joy” is how she described Alex and Brandon’s reactions. “They’re so excited they have a brother. They are just ecstatic — they haven’t met him yet. They’ve seen him on TV, but they haven’t met him.”

Flaig is looking forward to that meeting — yet another incomparable gift at this holiday season. He also can’t wait to introduce Tallady to his adoptive parents.

He has reason to be confident that they’ll become good friends. Not long ago, Flaig’s brother, who is also adopted, reunited with his birth mother and introduced her and her family to the Flaigs, whose family circle is getting bigger by the day.

“They’ve become pretty close with our family,” he told Vieira. “They were just over for dinner last week.”

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