Sometimes life surprises us in the sweetest way possible. For Vamarr Hunter, 50, that moment came in the spring of 2022 when a call from his favorite Chicago bakery, Give Me Some Sugah, changed his life forever.
“I was on the phone with a friend when a call came through from the bakery,” Hunter shared with The Washington Post. “I was like, ‘Why is Give Me Some Sugah calling me?’”
Hunter, a loyal customer who visited the bakery at least once a week, was stunned to discover the woman on the other end of the line was none other than Lenore Lindsey, the bakery’s owner—and his birth mother.
“When I knew who he was, we just started screaming on the phone. We were beside ourselves,” Lindsey, now 67, recalled.
“It was crazy. It was just so unbelievable,” Hunter agreed.
Lindsey was just 17 when she gave birth to Hunter in 1974 and made the heartbreaking decision to place him for adoption. “It was a difficult time for my family,” she shared. Lindsey, overwhelmed by the emotions of the moment, chose not to hold or see her son after birth.
“They wheeled him out, and I remember seeing a head full of hair and my mom telling me how beautiful he was,” Lindsey said through tears.
Hunter didn’t know he was adopted until he was 35. Despite growing up in a “rough” environment, he didn’t dig into his adoption story until March 2022 after watching a television show about genealogy. Inspired, he sought help from genetic genealogist Gabriella Vargas to find his birth mother.
Through Ancestry DNA matches, Vargas was able to piece together Hunter’s family tree and identified Lindsey as his mother.
“I said, ‘I’m not ready for this one,’” Lindsey admitted, recalling the moment Vargas called her with the news. Lindsey had just undergone breast cancer surgery and was preparing for chemotherapy, but despite her reservations, she called Hunter the same day.
A Sweet Reunion
Lindsey and Hunter quickly realized they already knew each other—Hunter had been a regular at her bakery for years. Their reunion couldn’t wait. Just one week later, they met face-to-face.
“We had an immediate connection,” Lindsey said. “All the pieces had fallen into place.”
Hunter immediately started calling Lindsey “mother” or “ma” and began accompanying her to chemotherapy appointments. “I was always one of these kids that’s doing their own thing, and now it’s like I belong,” Hunter said.
For Lindsey, there were signs all along. “His laugh always reminded me of my brother’s,” she said. “And now I know why.”
Building A New Legacy
Shortly after their reunion, Lindsey suffered a stroke in June 2022. As she recovered, Hunter stepped in to manage the bakery, working night shifts to ensure the business stayed afloat. By April 2023, Hunter left his job to take over the bakery full-time.
“I’m loving every minute of it,” he said. “It’s pretty therapeutic for me.”
Lindsey couldn’t be prouder. “It’s like every part of my life had led me up to this point,” she shared. “The fact that we found each other is amazing, a great joy, and I wouldn’t trade it for anything.”
Hunter has found not just his birth mother but a sense of belonging he’d been searching for his entire life. “It’s a piece of me that was missing,” he said. “It has changed us both tremendously.”
For Lindsey, Hunter’s addition to her family—including her 40-year-old daughter, Rachel—feels natural. “He talks like he was raised in the house with us,” she said. “We’re both the same.”
Even genetic genealogist Gabriella Vargas, who connected the dots, sees the magic in their story. “This needs to be a movie,” she said.
For now, Hunter and Lindsey are busy living their story—one slice of cake and heartfelt connection at a time.