the second visit
Took a solo trip up to ESWS this time. Apryl had to work, and I put in a pass to make sure I had the whole day to devote to the interview.
I entered the same small room as before. There were two couches facing one another with a small coffee table in between. By the window there was a small table and chairs. Ms. Kim came in the room excited to share the file they had recovered, we sat down and went through it all.
I don’t know if its a legal matter, or to protect one or both of the parties, but for the most part I was shown a document, Ms. Kim would summarize what this document was for, and then would ask if I had any questions. There was no direct translation unless we slowed down and I asked, and I don’t think I had much control in the process. I have read through the mirrored documents that Dillon had on file many times throughout my life, but it was very enriching to see correspondence from the other side. As we paged through the stack, attached to each progress report my parents had stapled a photo of our family. I don’t think I had ever seen these photos before. I must have been a year old or less, and my parents were in their late 20’s. Being 30 at the time I saw them, it gave me a different outlook on my parents. Seeing this “young” independent couple tackling an international adoption was a treat. Seeing this version of my parents in this setting was a very cool experience.
One document in the stack caught my eye. I know because it’s the one I’ve spent the most time reading in my own stack. It mentions a brief synopsis of my biological mother’s life, the situation for adoption, and her name. My copy is whited-out and blacked out and stamped “confidential” but this was the original document. It passed by in a flash, but I knew it was there. I just needed to find a way to see that page again.
I had previously asked if I could take pictures of the photos my parents had sent them, and was allowed to page through the stack to find the photos and take a photo of them. I could not take photos of documents, but it did allow me the opportunity to find that page, see her name and burn it in my brain.
The rest of my time at ESWS I spent downstairs in the cafe just trying to write down everything I had learned. I wanted to capture the feeling I felt at the time, and started planning how I wanted to tell this story.
