Woman Uncovers Emotional Link to Mom Who Passed When She Was 5—’Guiding Me’

A woman online learned about the history of her condo—and it was shockingly personal.

In a post to Reddit with 46,000 upvotes, Simone, 26, shared how she discovered that her late mother had once lived in her current Florida condo. She spoke to Newsweek about the amazing realization and how it has strengthened her connection to her late mother.

In the post, Simone wrote that she had lost her mother to colon cancer when she was just 5 years old, leaving her with few memories of her. Recently given bonds her mother had purchased for her as a child, Simone noticed something as she examined the paperwork—one of her mother’s old addresses was listed, and it was from the same condominium complex where Simone has been living for the past five years. The realization struck her: before buying their family home, her mother had lived in the very same complex.

“It’s crazy to think that she walked those same steps years ago,” Simone wrote. “Made me smile, laugh and cry all at the same time.”

Simone told Newsweek that she works as an interior designer, and she found her current condo on a whim after stumbling upon the listing during a late-night search. With its two-story layout, fireplace and multiple dining areas, it was the perfect match. Simone took it and didn’t look back.

“When I first moved in, it was love at first sight,” she said. “My boyfriend didn’t even see the place in person before trusting me to sign everything…Now learning that my mother also lived here with my dad when they were first dating, it just feels like a big paradox.”

Simone said her father had tried to tell her years ago that he and her mother had once lived in the area, but she didn’t believe him until she saw her mother’s old address on the bonds. “My crazy old father was right,” she said.

For Simone, the discovery feels like more than a coincidence—it feels like a sign that her mother has been with her all along.

“I know her memory and spirit are with me, because of all of the places I could have picked in this major city, I picked her complex. I picked somewhere my mother’s footsteps have traveled,” she said. “Now I realize, she was guiding me through my own trials and tribulations the whole time.”

Simone also took the opportunity to honor her mother’s memory by encouraging people to donate to cancer research and the Florida Department of Transportation, as her mother had contributed to significant infrastructure projects in the early 2000s.