I Chose To Be Happy

Life is not all rainbows and butterflies.

I was born in South Korea.

Based on what I’ve been told, my family was middle class. Our community was primarily made up of farmers.

I entered the orphanage at three months old. It was difficult living there, I am glad I got out early.

At five months old, a family from the United States adopted me.

Fitting into a new family was difficult. My mother battled severe depression and my father had problems of his own. At first, we were far from being a close-knit family.

Recently, I’ve been trying to reconnect with my roots; however, my birth mother passed away when I was 19 and my father is nowhere to be found.

I wish I knew more about my past.

Since being adopted, I’ve had to overcome multiple obstacles, including the feeling of being alone, not knowing my purpose in life, multiple cases of sexual abuse and racism.

Despite all of the obstacles, I’ve been able to find happiness. I got involved in activities including running, drawing and creating close networks of friends.

I am happy to be on American soil.

I'm proud of my roots and heritage.

This is my story and nobody can take that away from me.