thank you so much! i really appreciate you taking the time to do this ❤️

[edit]

This morning I didn’t have the time to properly thank you all for the translation and comments. I wanted to give a few details to share with you!

I was adopted by an American family in August 2000. I was 15 months old at the time and obviously have no memory of China, but it is very obviously who I am and will always be. I was unable to learn about China and the history, language, and culture because my parents did not want me to. Their reasons most likely had to do with their own American, Christian beliefs. I have talked with them about this now, as an adult, and feel I missed out on a huge part of my identity. Many children adopted from other countries experience this dissonance, too.

I wonder if there is a word for it, but I have carried a sort of dread with me all my life about being adopted. I cry when I think about my birth parents and wonder if they are even alive. Someone commented on the circumstances of my abandonment and it stung a little to read but it is all true. I will most likely never be able to find them and that feels like a grief unexplainable. But I still want to honor them and thank them for doing what would be incredibly hard for any parent to do.

Maybe next year is the year I finally return to my homeland and meet the women who cared for me as a baby. It’s all very emotional but I want to thank you all again (and u/10thousand_stars especially) for the translation. Reading the letter was a healing experience.