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BLUE SPRINGS, Mo. — A Blue Springs woman is thankful to be reunited with family photos that have been missing for decades.

As Sella Minker sat her dining room table flipping through an old family album, she pointed out pictures she had never seen before. She didn’t know some even existed.

“I could not wait to get my hands on this,” Minker said. “There are so many memories of me as a child.”

They’re memories, dating as far back as the 1960s, she shared with her parents, aunts, uncles and grandparents.

“Just about everyone in this book is gone except for my dad,” she said.

They’re treasured moments the 46-year-old can now relive thanks to one man who lives nearly 1,200 miles away in New York City.

“It’s unbelievable how crazy it is this came to me during this time,” she said.

Stuck inside his apartment because of the ongoing pandemic, Adam Scally was deep cleaning when he came across Sella’s family album.

“[The album] was up on a high shelf in a clear tub,” he said. “The last time I saw it there was no way of even thinking of how to get in touch with these people.”

The 45-year-old bought a box 20 years ago at an auction when he was a grad student at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. The album was at the bottom of the box.

Of course, there was no social media back then, but Adam knew the pictures were important to someone. So he kept them.

“There was something that spoke to me,” he said. “It was just enduring to us. [My friends] felt like it should be treated with respect.”

When Adam pulled the album from his closet in April, he took to Facebook and uploaded a couple of pictures to a group called “Local Kansas City History Buffs.” Within an hour, someone identified Sella as the baby in the photos and connected her with Adam.

“If I had been some college kid that went some estate sale, bought a box for a dollar and found this photo album at the bottom of it, I probably would’ve pitched it,” Sella said. “Instead he held onto it.”

“I didn’t expect them to be as grateful and happy as they were,” Adam added. “It was nice to supply this family with some missing pieces from their history.”

It was a welcomed distraction for them both during what has been some of the most trying times for us all.

“We’re locked in our houses. It’s the same thing every day, and all of a sudden, here’s your lifelong memories,” Sella said. “It just made my heart melt.”