Rebecca Hayes and David Ward never took newborn photos with their son, Clayton. That is, until he turned 21, when he made it up to them by posing for several new-born style photos despite his early adulthood.
Hayes and Ward dated in High School, where she became pregnant with Clayton during her sophomore year. The pair broke up before their son's birth and both went on to marry other partners, though they always got along and were completely dedicated to being good parents to their son. In 2013, Hayes' husband passed away and Ward was there to help her through the heartache. She reciprocated the favor in 2015, when Ward's wife was diagnosed with a rare cancer that left him a widower. After all they'd been through together, it seems only natural that the pair rekindled their relationship.
I had the idea one evening when we were all sitting around and laughing at what a weird world ours had become. I half joked about it but both David and Clay were surprisingly on board, so I had to jump on it!
Parents take hilarious 'newborn' photos with 21-year-old son https://t.co/CQh2kAeLrb pic.twitter.com/xjINkgwK4X
— HuffPost Parents (@HuffPostParents) August 11, 2017
He is very deadpan and dry and just stared at me and said ‘we have to do this’ we all cracked up while we discussed what ‘poses’ we would do.
https://t.co/Ct0z3a9kiH This is cracking me up
— ruhungryiam (@ruhungryiam) August 12, 2017
We had discussed ahead of time what we could do to avoid giving off a ‘creepy’ vibe — which some people still got but that’s OK. I’m not gonna lie, there were discussions about making a huge basket and possibly the mention of a giant teddy bear. I’m the end we decided simple would be enough.
I really just want people to know that life is weird and horrible and wonderful at times. You never know where it will lead, and you have to embrace what comes your way fully. We went through some rough rough times and just learned to grasp onto those things that are truly important.