IT IS A SMALL WORLD

North Dakotan John Maixner spent years exchanging friendly hellos with Walmart greeter Buddine Bullinger, only to discover recently that she is his long-lost sister. Maixner, a brother, and three sisters were given up for adoption 50 years ago, and just last year he began searching for his birth family. When he tracked down a picture of his siblings, his jaw dropped as he realized that he knew Bullinger. The pair now speak by phone nearly every day, and Maixner has reconnected with his siblings and their children. “I gained a huge family,” he said.