Birthright

What is a birth to a life well lived?

We celebrate our birthdays; a measurement of the number of times we’ve made the loop around our sun.

Yet if asked, all of us wouldn’t be able to remember a single thing of it. Our mothers would remember the pain, the sleep, and hopefully the joy of a dish served warm after 9 months in the oven. Our fathers were perhaps more lucid during a birth, but there is no doubt some primitive directive that thankfully erases much of the birth from their memory.

Stories from the birth are relieved on the day each year: my birth as a twin certainly has a plethora to choose from.

We celebrate Sister’s birthday: June 17th, and we know her birthweight. But other details surrounding both her birth and adoption are unknown to us.

We also celebrate her airplane day: January 17th, and we have a scratchy videocassette to prove that she really did sneeze on my father as soon as it was his turn to hold her.

So we set off for Eastern Child Welfare Services, the very place where Sister was cared for in preparation for her adoption.

It was a few subway stops away; just north of Hongik University.

“This is crazy, I’ve walked on this street without ever realizing this was here.” Sister remarked as we neared the building.

After a frenzied acquisition of a cake to offer as a gift, we crossed the street to arrive at the steps.

Sister was born on June 17th, and arrived at Eastern Child Welfare June 18th, 1988. We would be visiting 27 years later to the day: June 18th, 2015.

We had a meeting scheduled with the agency to go over her file. After a brief bit of confusion in finding the correct floor, we were ushered into a room, file in tow.

The parents and Sister took the privileged positions on the couch while Twin and I would watch from the neighboring table. With the probability of tears as likely as sun on a summer day, we were happy to look on from a distance.

The file contained many of the same documents that were recieved by our parents back in 1988. The character references, written correspondence and baseline health sheets were looked over with a reminiscent smile.

With the help of our translator, we were excited to learn some new details, however.

We learned that Sister was born in Seongnam, SK a suburb of Seoul.

We learned that she was born at 11:20PM; a fact that won’t suprise anyone who has witnessed her late night endeavours.

We learned from the foster mother that Sister was always hungry, and usually awoke to satisfy that same appetite. Another fact that wasn’t all too surprising.

Lastly, we got a written account of Sister’s birth-mothers birth experience. It spoke of a drama free birth, and the mother’s desire for Eastern Child to “find my baby a good home” (cue the tears).

After these meeting, the agency had arranged a tour of the facility followed by a lunch with other adoptees also visiting.

We were unable to see the nursery due to the MERS concerns prevalent especially in Seoul, but we did visit the outpatient services center penetrated by the cries of a new adoptee receiving a vaccination.

Lunch was next. We shared a table with Greg and his family from Connecticut.

It was quite an impressive assortment of traditional Korean dishes. A great conversation and a nice taste of good ol’ USA was a welcome break from the constant Korean we’d been hearing for the last couple of days.

Sister was sure to get a picture with her “Korean Grandmother” and her new adoptee friend before leaving.