As I perform How to Be a Korean Woman, I continue to meet adoptees near and far who are generous in sharing their own stories with me. In fact, chatting with people during after the show, during talkbacks, and receiving emails of people’s responses to the show have been as vital a part of the play as performing it. This is your show. Although this might not be your exact story, it resonates or touches upon similar experiences, feelings, and inner lives as adoptees.
I invite you to share your own story here as I continue to tour the play in the U.S. and abroad. This will be a safe space for you to share your individual responses as part of your process towards wholeness. Feel free to submit with your name or write anonymously. The important thing is to be able to write your own story freely and read others’ stories. If you have decided not to search, if you have no information in your file, if you have searched and been rejected, if you have been reunited and its going well, if you’ve been reunited and it went horribly…wherever you may be in your process and in the world, we are navigating this complex terrain of adoption together.
Thank you for attending the show and more importantly, thank you for finding the courage and generosity to be there for others by sharing your story. We are not alone.
Sun Mee,
I am a forever searcher and have been searching since I could legally. I’m 37 now. I want from believing that all I had was my name and birth date to knowing all about my biological extended family though I don’t have many names. Every time I search I always learn new and surprising information. My birthmom has sent mixed messages. She married her second husband because he was okay with her past and okay with her communicating with me, but she told me her first letter was her last because of family pressure and major life changes. Even though I might seem to be up against a dead end, I do not give up. There are still a million possibilities for how this could go in my lifetime. I have a feeling that I’ll live a long life and will have a long time to search.
Amanda