Letting go, is also LOVE

Sixteen years ago, general health insurance had yet established in Taiwan. There were always parents outside of premature newborn intensive care units concerned painfully with the massive medical bills and whether they should give up on their prematurely born child. Among so many unfortunate stories Maggie’s was most memorable because of the many people who were involved.

Maggie was born 16 years ago at Marshall Hospital. She was the smallest among the triplets and weighed only 968 grams. Maggie’s sister’s and brother’s medical bills were as much as 20 thousand US dollars. Maggie’s weight once dropped to 700 grams and had many lethal complications. She was in and out of hospital 4 times in 2 years and the medical expenses became an unbearable burden to the family. Due to many additional issues, the birth family decided to let go of Maggie and a family in Canada adopted her.
Maggie is the youngest among the five children in the adoptive family. Maggie is well loved by her adoptive parents and sisters and brothers, but she’s been having a lot of doubts and uncertainties about why she was raised in Canada instead of Taiwan and where she came from and why she was sent away from her birth parents.
When Maggie’s mother was 31 years old, she married Maggie’s father and became pregnant with triplets within a year. She was shocked about having triplets and was worried about the development of each baby and if they’d born prematurely. She had a very rough pregnancy and could not get enough of rest due to the triplets constantly moving in her belly. At 29 weeks, the babies were born and suffered from many complications due to the premature birth. 
Maggie’s parents did everything they could to keep Maggie but they weren’t financially comfortable enough to raise three children all with medical conditions and with the lack of help to take care of sick babies, they had to consider their options. They were convinced Maggie would have a better care and a chance for good education if a loving family abroad adopted Maggie. So they decided to let go of Maggie for the love they have for her. 
Fourteen years later, Maggie’s triplet sister and brother are in high school now and so is Maggie, but in completely different environments. Maggie’s birth mother works very hard everyday and Maggie is always on her mind. Although she received photos and letters from Maggie’s adoptive parents in Canada regularly, she cannot help but feeling lost and regret and sad about the daughter she couldn’t be with and care for. She thought to herself that one day she would reunite with Maggie. 
About 5 years ago, Maggie’s mother finally paid off all debts, and started to save as much money for Maggie to come back to Taiwan and find out about her birthplace and family. She saved over six thousand US dollars to cover part of Maggie’s travel expenses, and arranged an apartment for Maggie and her adoptive family to stay during her root-finding trip in Taiwan. She hoped this arrangement would help Maggie to understand about her background and her adoption.
Maggie’s mother planned a 2-week trip in Taiwan. The adoptive family and Maggie were able to visit many sights and spent a lot of time with the birth family. It was in the midst of summer and they all felt the birth family’s passion just as the heat waves of Taiwan’s summer!
Maggie’s mother also arranged for Maggie to visit the hospital she stayed for 2 years before she moved to Canada and talked to the agency that handled her adoption to give Maggie a whole picture. Everyone including the adoptive family, the doctors and nurses were all in tears. It was a very emotional moment for both Maggie and the birth mother. 
The next day, Maggie visited the hospital she stayed for 2 years and 3 months at the premature babies intensive care unit. When she showed up, the doctor and nurses that had taken cared of her were also there to meet her. The doctor showed Maggie some of the baby pictures she kept of Maggie. Maggie realized her conditions back then and could finally let go of her doubts and sadness of being adopted.
Maggie had suffered from severe lung problems when she was born prematurely and took a very long time to treat while she waited for the adoption to come through. So she stayed in the hospital for more than 2 years. Slowly but surely Maggie got better and grew bigger, she started needing more attention. The nurses gave her a lot of tender loving care by cooking nutritious meals for her, buying new clothes, and spending time to talk and play with her. When the nurses found out Maggie was visiting from Canada, they all came to meet her to see if she’s growing up well. Now Maggie’s healthy and free from any complications and it really inspired the doctors and nurses what they did and all their efforts were all worthy. 
When Maggie was ready to unite with her adoptive family at the age of 2, to make sure of Maggie’s safety two doctors accompanied her to fly to Canada. Maggie still needed medication then and everyone was very cautious about Maggie’s condition. There were more than a dozen people at the airport to welcome Maggie’s arrival to make sure nothing goes wrong.
The doctor that treated Maggie when she was born prematurely is now one of Taiwan’s top 100 doctors. She is known for her kind and compassionate attitude towards her patients and she treats them as they were her family. She believes every life is worth saving and that’s why she treated Maggie as best she could and is thankful now that Maggie’s all grown-up and healthy. 
Maggie’s mother told Maggie that she has three mothers, one gave birth to her, one raised her, and one saved her life. 
Maggie’s parents arranged for both families to get together at home for a big reunion dinner. Both families were tied together because of Maggie and it was a heart-warming night. Maggie made duplications of her birth parents’ wedding photos, and saw her own photos over the past 14 years that her adoptive parents had sent over. Maggie’s brother and sister were also thrilled to reunite with their baby sister. The talked to each other using limited English with the aid of a dictionary and body language and had tried to spend as much time together as they could. Watching all her three of her triplets sitting together on the couch, Maggie’s mother felt an immense joy and gratitude and said, “It’s been an incredibly difficult journey, but at this very moment, all the hard works and heart breaks ever took place were all worthy.”
Maggie’s father wanted to thank the adoptive family for all the love they had given Maggie and had asked Maggie to give her adoptive parents and sister a hug. In return, the adoptive family had ask Maggie to give each of her birth parents and brother and sister a hug for the wonderful miracle gift of Maggie, and that they were grateful to be here in Taiwan with Maggie to find her roots.
Maggie’s root-finding journey had a happy ending. Maggie was able to understand the reasons behind her adoption and reunite with her birth parents and siblings and learned about this beautiful island that she was born to. Now she realized how much love and help she had ever since she was born and that it was because of love, she was let go of her birth family and rose in another. With all the puzzles solved, Maggie was more certain about her future and she planned to learn Chinese so she can one day communicate with her birth family on her own. Maggie also decided to study hard in school and become a better person to give back the love she had received along the way.