A Letter to the Unforgettable Stranger
Dear stranger,
You altered the course of my entire existence. You found me when I was in the most vulnerable state. I do not know your name, what you look like, or where you are from, yet I would like to thank you.
It was May 28th, 2002. I lay in a paper box, dressed in a light-green outfit, and wrapped in a red coverlet. There is half a bottle of milk and another set of white clothes that lay beside me. For many the day might have been another twenty-four hours in which the Earth completed one rotation on its axis. It might have been another typical day when the sun set and the stars illuminated the night sky. However, for me, the 28th of May will always be one of the most important rotations the Earth has ever made. On this day I was found in the doorway of the Jiahui Shop in Ganzhou City, a foreign metropolis in southern China. If it was not for you, the unfamiliar nameless figure, I would not be where I am today. So thank you for contacting officials, because of you I was sent to a formal orphanage, where I was safe, warm, and given the necessary treatment that a newborn baby needs. Although I no longer lay alone surrounded by a sea of strangers, I was still incomplete. I was missing something I desperately craved, a family. For the first year of my life no one could claim me as theirs and I could not claim anyone as mine.
When you contacted officials, you not only addressed my immediate needs but you also changed the direction of my future, by giving me the opportunity to find my family. The events that took place on the 28th of May would lead me to the people I call my mom, dad, and sister. Little did I know that my forever home would be on the opposite side of the world. I had no idea that they would be living in the close-knit community of Coldwater, Michigan, and I would have never dreamed that I would be so fortunate to finally call them mine. I look back and understand that I was a helpless newborn whose fate to experience bedtime stories, goodnight kisses, and memories rested entirely in the hands of strangers. Yet, of all the families I could have ended up with, all of the different variations of my life I could have lived, and all of the unique yet distinct versions of myself I could have been, I am glad the outcome is what I know as reality.
A thank you, the two universal words to express sincerity, will never be enough to exhibit my deep appreciation for you. Instead, I want you to know that I’m dedicated to living my life in a way that would make you and my family proud. Your choices on May 28th showed me that one small action can change a life, and as a result I regularly participate in volunteer activities within my community. I'm attending the University of Michigan in order to further my education, expanding my knowledge to continue positively impacting those around me. In the future, I hope to return to China and observe where everything began. Where each sequence effortlessly followed the next including your life altering action. You will always be the unforgettable stranger who set in motion the life that I was meant to live.
Gratefully, a Chinese adoptee
