I was placed in foster care at seven, and my foster sister, Lily, was the only person who truly cared about me. She fed me, protected me, and made me smile during the darkest years of my childhood. When Lily was adopted at 13, I never saw her again, but I never forgot that she had saved me.

Twenty years later, I was working as a lawyer when a woman named Lily arrived for an appointment at my office. I wondered if it was only a coincidence, but the moment she walked in, I knew it was her. We hugged, cried, and remembered the childhood we had shared.

Lily then showed me a photo of a seven-year-old boy named Eli and explained that she was starting a nonprofit for foster children. She had spent months searching for me because she wanted me to be the lawyer for the organization. “You were the reason I survived,” she told me. “Now I want to help other children survive, too.”

I signed the paperwork pro bono, realizing that our lives had come full circle. Lily had saved me when we were children, and now I could help her save others. Two years later, her nonprofit is growing, and I volunteer there too. Sometimes the kindness we give comes back years later in the most beautiful way.