Wednesday, August 26, 2020

A Letter to My Daughter (Yongxiu, Jiangxi)

 

Dear Daughter,

How have you been these years? Perhaps we don’t deserve to call you daughter. We understand that the difficult choice we made many years ago has caused irreparable damage to you. Even though we brought you to this world, we have not fulfilled our parental duties. We have been living our lives missing you with guilt. Daughter, please allow us to call you daughter. We don’t know if you will see this letter. If you do, it may disturb your life in unnecessary ways. If that is the case, please forgive us.

Your mother and I were married in 1998 in Wucheng, Yongxiu, Jiangxi province. It was during the devastating 1998 China floods, which washed away everything we owned. We were left with nothing. In 1999, your sister was born. Your mother and I had no education or skills, and we remained poor. When you were born (October 2001), the one child policy was well underway. And I confess I was a little sexist back then. So, I sent you to the orphanage in Yongxiu county. Your mother did not agree with this decision. Based on this fact, I hope you will not resent her. Please resent me. All these years, we have never stopped looking for you. No matter what decision you make in the future, we will fully respect you. We only want you to be well.

We hope to see you again in our lifetime. We would also like to express our gratitude to your adoptive parents for all they’ve done. We thank them for raising you no matter how things turn out in the future. We believe you have grown to be a good person, and will always love and care for your adoptive parents.   

––Your Remorseful father and mother
___________________

DNA for this birth family is in GedMatch for matching.