with us now joe parker and rick hill. good morning to both of you. >> good morning. >> let me wrap my head around this story. rick, you're in waikiki. you weren't even supposed to be on that part of the island. you're doing one of those things with your family, you're trying to take a picture. tell me about that afternoon. >> that's correct. we had no intention on going to waikiki that day because we were staying on the other side of the island and we got down to the beach and i had asked mo to take a picture of me and the kids. >> your fiancee? >> she started taking a picture and joe said, why don't you jump in the picture. >> and joe was a random guy walking along the beach? >> that's correct. >> why were you walking on the beach and who were you to take a picture of this family you don't know? >> i got out of the car business to take this job on the beach. i was trying to be hospitable and take a picture of a family enjoying waikiki. >> you get everyone together and instead of saying say cheese, you had them say someth

his name is joe parker. they started talking, just gabbing. then they found this commonal y commonality. >> and the commonality is they have the same father. >> in massachusetts. turns out the guy recognizes his accent, joe parker does. he says where are you from? this town in massachusetts. so am i. i'm from that area as well. then rick hill says, do you happen to know dicky halligan. the guy goes, that's my father. he goes, that's mine, too. >> the hills almost didn't go to waikiki where this happened. they weren't going to go for some reason. in the end they ended up having to go. then this happened. >> isn't that amazing? they're half brothers. somehow they were separated. we don't know that back story of how they got separated in massachusetts. then really got separated when one decided to move to hawaii. then they end up meeting ultimately right there in hawaii. waikiki beach. >> one guy was in foster care all his life. ended up on the streets, then waikiki. i love these stories. optimistic. >> we try to keep it positive. something to pu

. >> reporter: that stranger, joe parker, also from outside boston, grew up in foster care. and was now living in hawaii. >> i saw these people enjoying waikiki and on vacation. and just wanted to be a little hospitable. >> reporter: rick hadn't even planned to be on the beach that day. yet here he was reminiscing. his hometown was just one away from joe's. and then the name. >> then he just out of the blue came out with -- he asked me if i knew a guy named dick halligan. at that point i said, yeah, that's my father. >> i lifted up my sunglasses. i looked him dead in the eye and i said, you know, that's my father, too. >> reporter: dick halligan died nine years ago. while each knew of a half brother, that was all they knew. is fate something you believe in? >> fate. miracle. whatever words you want to use to describe it. yeah. absolutely, i believe in something beyond me. >> reporter: the pair continued catching up this morning on "today." >> every day we've talked at least once or twice. took us half our life to meet, but it's been exciting, to say the least. >> reporter: a

. >> reporter: that stranger, joe parker, also from outside boston, grew up in foster care, and was now living in hawaii. >> i saw these people enjoying waikiki, and on vacation. and i just wanted to be a little hospitable. >> reporter: rick hadn't even planned to be on the beach that day. yet here he was reminiscing. his hometown was just one away from joe's. and then the name. >> and then he just out of the blue came out with he asked me if i knew a guy named dick halligan. and at that point, yeah, that's my father. and i lifted up my sunglasses and looked him dead in the eye and said you know, that's my father too. >> reporter: dick halligan died nine years ago. and while each knew of a half-brother, that was all they knew. is fate something you believe in? >> fate, miracle, whatever words you want to use to describe it, yeah, absolutely. i believe in something beyond me. >> reporter: the pair continued catching up this morning on "today." >> every day we've talked at least once or twice. >> it took us half our life to meet, but it's been exciting to say the least. >> reporter: and w

. >> reporter: that stranger, joe parker, also from outside boston, grew up in foster care. and was now living in hawaii. >> i saw these people enjoying waikiki on vacation. just wanted to be a little hospitable. >> reporter: rick hadn't even planned to be on the beach that day. yet here he was reminiscing. his hometown was just one away from joe's. and then the name. >> then he just out of the blue came out with -- he asked me if i knew dick halligan. at that point i said, yeah, that's my father. >> i lif sunglasses. i looked him dead in the eye and i said, you know, that's my father, too. >> reporter: dick halligan died nine years ago. while each knew of a h brother, that was all they knew. is fate something you believe in? >> fate. miracle. whatever words you want to use to describe it. yeah. absolutely, i believe in something beyond me. >> reporter: the pair continued catching up this morning on "today." >> every day we've talked at least once or twice. >> took us half our life to meet, but it's been exciting to say the least. >> reporter: what do you know? after 38 year

. >> reporter: that stranger, joe parker, also from outside boston, grew up in foster care. and was now living in hawaii. >> i saw these people enjoying waikiki on vacation. just wanted to be a little hospitable. >> reporter: rick hadn't even planned to be on the beach that day. yet here he was reminiscing. his hometown was just one away from joe's. and then the name. >> then he just out of the blue came out with -- he asked me if i knew dick halligan. at that point i said, yeah, that's my father. >> i lifted up my sunglasses. i looked him dead in the eye and i said, you know, that's my father, too. >> reporter: dick halligan died nine years ago. while each knew of a half brother, that was all they knew. is fate something you believe in? >> fate. miracle. whatever words you want to use to describe it. yeah. absolutely, i believe in something beyond me. >> reporter: the pair continued catching up this morning on "today." >> every day we've talked at least once or twice. >> took us half our life to meet, but it's been exciting to say the least. >> reporter: what do you know? a