IN RED BANK, AN INSTANT FAMILY ADDITION
Jeff and Donna Clapp with their adopted son, Cristopher, outside their home on Rector Place. (Photo by Dustin Racioppi; click to enlarge)
By DUSTIN RACIOPPI
Jeff and Donna Clapp decided long ago they would never have children. The couple, who’ve been married 17 years, were busy with their careers, loved traveling and enjoyed life alone in their first-floor apartment in Red Bank.
But that all changed last year, when the Clapps fell hard for a long-haired boy who Donna Clapp says shares “spiritual DNA” with them.
Before they knew it, the couple were signing paperwork to officially adopt a son a 17-year-old on the edge of legal independence, making for a story that summons a Hollywood script a la The Blind Side.
Today, there would a be a hole in this unexpected family if that boy weren’t around telling jokes or playing video games in his bedroom.
“I can’t imagine what things would be without him,” Jeff Clapp, 42, said.