Sue was left in a cardboard box as a small child. Luckily, a store clerk took her home and changed the course of her entire life. Now, in the form of an unexpected knock at the door, Sue has to face her past and the disappointment that comes with it. Is this a grand reunion or the biggest disappointment of Sue’s life?
I was left in a cardboard box in a supermarket twenty years ago. I was just a few months old, and all I had to my name were a few photos of my mother and a note.
A baby in a cardboard box | Source: Midjourney
The note read: I will always love you, Sue.
Nobody knew my surname or whether I had a middle name. Nobody seemed to know my mother or what had happened to my father. I was all alone in a world that didn’t know anything about me.
A folded piece of paper | Source: Midjourney
But even then, at a few months old, I seemed to be fortune’s fool. I was found by a kind store clerk, Ruby, who took me in.
“I couldn’t leave you there, Sue,” she would say whenever the story came up. “I became your guardian shortly after and raised you as my own. You became my little bug.”
Ruby was everything to me. And as I grew, the closer we became.
A smiling woman in a grocery store | Source: Midjourney
I was forever grateful that she gave me everything I needed. But still, I never stopped wondering why my mother left me and if she would ever come back.
“I know that it bothers you, darling,” Ruby told me one day as she made lasagna for dinner. “But she’s an enigma now. We have nothing that could lead us to her.”
A tray of lasagna on a board | Source: Unsplash
“I know,” I said, grating more cheese for when the dish was ready. “It’s just frustrating when I start thinking about it.”
“You love the internet, you love social media, Sue. Use it, share your story, maybe it will resonate with people, and you can connect with others just like you.”
A person grating cheese | Source: Pexels
She opened the oven and put the tray of lasagna inside.
So I did just that, and I became a well-known video blogger, sharing my story with the world.
“You’ve created a safe platform for people to share their stories, too,” Ruby told me when I read comments from my latest video to her.
A young woman holding her phone | Source: Unsplash
“It means something to me,” I said, helping myself to the eclairs on the table.
Fast forward to the present. I am successful and able to provide for myself and my guardian.
“So much for being an abandoned baby,” I said to myself as I washed my face one night.
A woman washing her face | Source: Pexels
But imagine my surprise when an unexpected knock on my door changed everything.
I opened the door to find a frail, older woman standing there, her eyes filled with regret and desperation.
“Sue, darling,” she said. “I am your mother, and I need your help!”
A person opening a door | Source: Pexels
I just looked at her, unable to blink for fear of missing the moment.
“Do you still have the note I left with you when I left you safely in the store?”
Safely? I thought to myself. I stood there, paralyzed by the flood of emotions that had come in when she entered my home.
A sad woman holding her face | Source: Pexels
“Yes, I have it,” I said, my voice barely above a whisper. “I kept it.”
“I know I have no right to ask for your help after what I did, but I need you to believe me when I say I had no choice back then. I was running from a dangerous situation. And I thought leaving you in a safe place was the only way to protect you. I needed to disappear.”
A person wearing boots | Source: Unsplash
“What kind of situation?” I asked.
I had wondered about this moment for years. And every second that went by, I was just disappointed by the reunion with my birth mother.
She hesitated, looking down at her hands.
A person holding their hands together | Source: Unsplash
“There were people after me, people who wouldn’t stop until they got what they wanted. I stole something once, just to help me out financially. I stole the wrong thing from the wrong people. I had to keep you safe. So I left you.”
Of course, my mother was shady.
Two people dressed in black | Source: Pexels
“You could have come back sooner. You could have tried to find me.”
“I know, but I was scared.”
I took a deep breath, trying to process everything.
“What do you need help with?”
A woman with her eyes closed | Source: Unsplash
She looked up, her eyes pleading.
“I need a place to stay, just for a little while, until I can get back on my feet. I have nowhere else to go.”
My heart ached. But I knew that Ruby would want me to say yes. She would tell me to do it. I could almost hear her words in my head.
A smiling older woman | Source: Pexels
“That’s your birth mother, Sue. Help her,” Ruby would say, most likely bribing me with something to eat.
“Okay,” I said finally. “You can stay. But this doesn’t mean everything is forgiven. We have a lot to talk about.”
She nodded, tears streaming down her cheeks.
A crying woman | Source: Pexels
“Thank you. I promise, I’ll make things right.”
She reached down, picked up a worn duffel bag, and followed me in.
The first few days went by relatively smoothly. My mother seemed genuinely remorseful and tried to help around the house.
A worn duffel bag on the floor | Source: Midjourney
“I’ll cook and I’ll clean for you, darling,” she said.
But it didn’t last long.
One evening, I came home earlier from the local radio studio where I was being interviewed for my content. The house was unusually quiet.
A person holding cleaning supplies | Source: Pexels
Walking to my bedroom, I heard the faint sound of drawers opening and closing.
And there she was, standing there in front of my open jewelry box, my most precious pieces clutched in her hands.
“What are you doing?” I demanded, unable to contain my rage, but also wanting to keep calm at the same time.
An open jewelry box | Source: Midjourney
She looked up, startled, and for a moment, I saw a flash of guilt in her eyes.
“I was just… I thought maybe I could sell some of these to help me out. They’re heavy, so they’re real.”
“Of course, they’re real! They’re gifts from my mother! She saved up for years just so that she could get that diamond necklace for my 18th birthday. And you want to steal from me?”
A diamond necklace | Source: Unsplash
She looked shocked, like the wind had been knocked from her sails.
“You have so much, darling,” she said, almost whimpering. “I just thought that you wouldn’t miss a few pieces. We could use the money.”
“We? This isn’t about us; it’s about you. And it’s not about money, either. It’s about trust. You said that you wanted to make things right, but all you’ve shown me is that I cannot trust you.”
A woman holding her head | Source: Unsplash
She reached out to me, but I stepped back.
“Please, don’t do this, Sue. I can change. I just need some time.”
I shook my head, tears of betrayal and disappointment filling my eyes.
A close-up of a crying woman | Source: Pexels
“I gave you a chance. I let you into my home. I let you meet Ruby. And you still chose to betray me. No, I’m sorry. But you need to leave.”
Her face crumpled, and she pulled a tissue from my vanity.
“Please, just one more chance,” she said.
“I can’t,” I said, my voice breaking. “You need to go.”
A box of tissues | Source: Midjourney
“Sue, I gave birth to you,” she said, putting the necklace down.
“And you left me in a box,” I said.
I watched as she gathered her things and left, the duffel bag looking considerably fuller than when she arrived. But I didn’t have it in me to fight her again.
A full duffel bag | Source: Midjourney
Sadness and disappointment weighed me down heavily. But there was also a sense of relief.
Later, I went over to Ruby’s house. It was the one place that would always feel like home to me.
“Darling girl,” she said, flipping grilled cheese onto a plate. “You took a chance on someone who loved you, that’s what you take away from this experience.”
Grilled cheese on a plate | Source: Midjourney
I smiled at her. At the woman who had taken me home in a heartbeat and had loved me ever since.
But now, I worry that I’ve just sent my birth mother back into the world she had been trying to escape from.
A worried woman with her head on a table | Source: Pexels
Was I right in my decision?
Despite the danger: a woman with dwarfism boldly poses with her baby belly on the beach.
Most married couples get asked “when,” but Charli Worgan and her husband Cullen frequently received “why” questions.
The parents, who live in Sydney, are frequently in the spotlight due to their unique forms of dwarfism, most notably when Charli got pregnant with their first child.
After giving birth to their first child, the content Australian mother created a social media account to share updates on their family life with others. Little did she know how well-liked her account would become.
With two stunning daughters under their belt, Charli has amassed over 300,000 Instagram followers.
Charli recently revealed that she was fourteen weeks pregnant with her third child, but the announcement was bittersweet.
Charli has had to undergo thorough genetic testing during each pregnancy. Experts warn that if Charli and Cullen’s offspring inherit just one type of dwarfism, inherit both forms, or are of average height due to their genetic problems, the results might be fatal.
Charli expressed her disappointment at not being able to celebrate her pregnancy’s 12-week mark with her family, as most mothers do.
But at 12 weeks, I was preparing for a procedure called Chorionic Villus Sampling (CVS), which is similar to an amniocentesis, whereas most individuals are pleased to be able to announce their pregnancy. To check the embryo’s genetic composition, a big needle is placed into my abdomen to extract a sample of the placenta, which has a 2% miscarriage rate.
Their two daughters, Tilba, 4, and Tully, 2, each have one of the two varieties of dwarfism, so they waited to find out which of the four possible dwarfisms Charli’s third child would have.
In an Instagram post, Charli explained, saying, “Our child would be of ordinary height.”
Our child would have achondroplasia and be dwarfed similarly to me.
Our child would have geleophysic dysplasia, the same type of dwarfism that Cullen has.
As a result of inheriting both genetic defects, our child would be born with “double dominant dwarfism,” which is fatal according to every expert medical assessment. In the event that this had occurred, I could have decided to terminate the pregnancy or to go on and see how things turned out.
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