I’m a little late posting this excellent first-person account in the Washington Post by Ricki Mudd, adopted from China at nearly 5 years old and re-united with her birth family there. The article is interesting all around, but what spoke to me most was her relationship with her birth brother, Wu Chao. Ricki’s family sponsored Wu Chao so he could attend community college in the US, and he’s now living with Ricki’s (American) family. The siblings’ relationship continues to unfold, and Ricki ends the piece with “Chinese policy may have had room for only one of us. But our lives will be forever intertwined.”
Ricki’s article includes clips from a documentary made about her story. It’s very moving to see that little 5 year old girl, leaving to join her new family–afraid, unsure, and sobbing. As an adoptive mother, I was reminded of our family’s early days. Yes, we love our children. Yes, we support them emotionally in every way we know how. But still. Each of them experienced loss before we met them, and an upheaval that was life-altering and deep.
ShareThis