"I Was Lucky"

Amy Rodgers-Dryfoos was adopted from China in 1992 through Wide Horizons For Children in Waltham. Amy, 14, and her sister Rose, 11, live with their parents Paul and Cynthia in Brookline. A child was lucky.

On October 28, 1992, a 4-month-year-old baby from Chang Sha, China in need of a family was adopted by two loving parents, at the Chang Sha Social Welfare Center.

She was found outside a police station in a little basket with a note saying where she was born and how old she was. It did not say, however, who her biological parents were. But she was taken to the nearest orphanage and was placed in the arms of some very devoted caretakers.

Over the next 4 months, she was cared for and named after her chief caretaker, Li. She would be called Li Hua. Her birthday was June 11, 1992. This child was lucky. She would be going home in a couple of days, to a home in America, safe, cared for, and raised for the rest of her childhood. This child was me.

I am, Amy Li Hua Rodgers-Dryfoos, now 14 years old, Chinese-American, and living in Brookline. Now, I have a younger sister, currently 11 years old, adopted at 8 months old, from Wu Han, China.

When I was 11 years old I went back to China, to visit the Chang Sha Social Welfare Center. It was breath taking. I saw Li, the women who had cared for me when I was a baby. Of course, I remembered her through the pictures I had seen, but she remembered me by my face! She was so happy to see me, a child growing and living happily. And I was happy to see her as well. I also played several times with the babies living there, they reminded me of myself. Children hoping for someone to take them home to provide them with what every child deserves, love and care.

I found out when I was visiting the orphanage, that there were even children my age, who hadn't gotten adopted yet. I found myself thinking about how different my life could have been. I told myself even though many children didn't have parents that had adopted them yet, none were left homeless.

During the trip, I realized that family is not necessarily a mom and dad and children, family is a group of people who all love and care for you and you for them.

For the first time, as I traveled around seeing all Asian faces I realized I was no longer the foreigner. I was in my country. I felt Chinese, for the first time! My trip back to China was a magnificent experience and I am eager to go back in the future.

There are times though, when being adopted by an American couple was hard for me. I got judged sometimes, people giving me

weird looks on the street because I was of Asian descent, walking around with two white parents. I felt uncomfortable in situations where someone else would assume I was not my parent's daughter, and that a friend, that was with me, was a parent. I know that this is natural for people, to think that but it can make me feel sometimes that I don't fit in perfectly well. The thing I hated most was when people felt bad for me, that I never knew my biological parents. I would constantly hear, "Aren't you sad, about how your life is? I mean you were adopted, you never knew your other parents." Or I might hear, "Didn't you want to meet your biological parents?" Most of the time, I knew they were curious, and I would answer them truthfully. I told them that my life was fine the way it was, and that I don't get sad about those things. I get sad about regular things, that everyone gets sad about, when my pet frog dies or my friend is upset with me.

Then one time at camp, I heard a bunch of girls talking about me. They said they heard I was adopted so they should ask me to hang out with them because they felt bad. I mean I will always feel slightly uncomfortable in those situations, but still, why feel bad for someone who had gotten extremely lucky, and who has a good life, and a good family. Many people feel bad for adopted children, when really, they should be happy for them! They should feel bad for the children left with no family at all.

Being adopted had made me think a lot about the importance of family, childhood, and life.

It's fantastic for me to know that I have people who do love me, who do take care of me.

I have everything a 14-year-old wants, friends, family, a home, activities, a computer, a television whatever, life is...great! The child back in 1992 who was born in China, and who needed a family got one, a great one, and that millions of other children around the world have as well.

I am an example of how someone can make such a huge difference in the life of a child. In this essay, I wanted to reveal to people how today they can affect the lives of children or of anybody by simply providing them with love and a roof over there heads.

Amy Li Hua Rodgers-Dryfoos...was lucky.

Amy Rodgers-Dryfoos was adopted from China

in 1992 through Wide Horizons For Children in Waltham. She lives in Brookline with her parents

Paul and Cynthia and her younger sister Rose.