Woman learns her adoptive mom had secretly been writing to her biological mother for 17 years

"She was watching me grow up and I had no idea."

Closed adoptions, meaning there is no contact between the biological parents and adoptive families, offer privacy, protection and emotional closure. However—and understandably—it can still be incredibly difficult for biological mothers to instantly and drastically remove their biological child from their life.

This was the case for Alicia Mae Holloway’s biological mom. In a video shared to her TikTok account, the dancer and television personality shared that her adoptive mother, Evelyn, “saw how hard it was” for her birth mom to give Holloway up for adoption. So Evelyn came up with a kind gesture that Holloway dubbed “the sweetest thing.”

Third graders wrote these adorably persuasive descriptions for local shelter animals

A Pennsylvania teacher partnered with a shelter to create the purrfect writing assignment.

For kids, school assignments can often feel disconnected from the real world. Math story problems that ask how many pancakes could fit on a roof, for example, or essay questions about things they're just not interested in. For teachers, finding ways to engage students in learning in a meaningful way can be a challenge, but one teacher's approach to teaching writing shows how a little creativity and community-mindedness can create a win-win assignment for everyone.

Amy McKinney, a teacher in Pennsylvania, was teaching her third graders about persuasive writing. But rather than have them formulate an argument for an imagined audience, McKinney partnered with a local animal shelter to give her students an authentic audience to write for—and a super compelling reason to persuade them.

5 things that made us smile this week

Grab your tissues and read some seriously good news.

Grab your tissues and read some seriously good news. After a harrowing election season, we could all use an emotional pick-me-up. Thankfully, the internet never fails to deliver. Check out five uplifting stories we’ve found that made us smile this week. Enjoy—and don't forget to share the love!

For more things that'll make you smile, check out all the ways Subaru is sharing the love this holiday season, here.

Beautiful 'Star Trek' short film gives fans the Kirk and Spock farewell they truly deserve

Unification takes William Shatner’s Kirk on a journey through the afterlife to see Spock one last time.

Even if you’re not into Star Trek, you’re probably aware of the legendary friendship (or more, depending on who you ask) shared between Captain James T. Kirk and Spock. It’s part of what made their separate deaths—Kirk’s being in the 1994 film Star Trek: Generations and Spock’s only being a thing mentioned in 2016’s Star Trek Beyond—so bittersweet for many fans.

But now, grieving trekkies can finally get some closure, thanks to a fan film that’s not only an epic, Easter egg-filled crossover spanning the vast canon of Star Trek, but a tearjerking love letter to the two characters who first made the show so special in the first place.