<\/p>\n
Miracles do still happen. <\/p>\n
Ricki Lake took to Instagram<\/a> on Monday to share the \u201ccraziest\u201d story of how a stranger had found her old family photos \u201cat a freaking flea market.\u201d <\/p>\n \u201cI can\u2019t even process\u201d this, the former talk show host says in the video. \u201cMy words are not coming.\u201d <\/p>\n Lake, who lost her Malibu home<\/a> in the Palisades fire<\/a> in January, recounted how a couple of her friends had reached out to her Sunday night to let her know that someone had posted images<\/a> of old photos featuring Lake and her son on social media and was trying to get in touch with her. <\/p>\n \u201cI couldn\u2019t believe what I was seeing because all of it was gone in the fire,\u201d Lake says. <\/p>\n Patty Scanlon, the artist who had posted the images, joined Lake on Instagram Live to share how she stumbled upon the photos while looking for inspiration at the Pasadena City College Flea Market. <\/p>\n \u201cIt was like the universe drove me to get your pictures,\u201d Scanlon says, explaining she found a box of photos at the first vendor she hit at the market and bought it for $20. \u201cI opened the pictures and the first one I saw … I thought \u2018Oh, I love that woman\u2019s face.\u2019\u201d <\/p>\n The artist didn\u2019t immediately recognize the woman in the photos, but as she looked through more of them she realized it was Lake and her son Milo, who is now 28, as a toddler. In addition to the photos, Scanlon found a letter that indicated Lake had mailed them as a thank-you for some gifts that were given to baby Milo. <\/p>\n \u201cThese pictures are so priceless to me,\u201d Lake says. \u201cThey would be anyway … but the fact that I lost all of these images in the fire in January … I thought they were gone forever.\u201d <\/p>\n \u201cI had made peace,\u201d she continues. \u201cIt was such a heartache and such a painful thing to come to terms with. That all of these memories are no longer in front of me. They\u2019re just in my mind and heart now. But the fact that you found these is unbelievable.\u201d <\/p>\n In the video, Scanlon hypothesizes that the box of photos probably ended up at the flea market after an estate sale and says she can\u2019t believe what a \u201cmiracle\u201d it was that she had found them after learning about how Lake had lost everything in the fires. <\/p>\n \u201cI really cannot thank you enough for your generosity,\u201d Lake says to Scanlon. \u201cThe fact that I\u2019m going to get something back that I thought was lost forever … it makes me so happy.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n