Found

They were left in cardboard boxes,

found near a bridge or on the sidewalk.

There used to be so many of them. More than 30 of them in a shift.

We nannies had different tasks.

Some fed the babies milk. Some did the laundry.

I looked after the babies.

I remember many of them.

These babies… I brought them up.

I held them in my arms and fed them slowly,

as if they were my own children.

My heart ached whenever I sent a baby away.

They'd be sent so far away.

What was to become of them?

Hello, welcome to Sonic. May I take your order?

What sauce would you like?

Your total is $8.75. Have a nice day.

We have $50 bills? What?

No! Like, I've never really seen one before.

Yeah.

-Hello, how are you? - I'm good.

Here's your medium, unsweetened tea. Have a wonderful day.

Hello!

-Hey, how was work? -It was good.

-Did you eat? -Yeah, I ate mozzarella sticks.

-Is that all? -Yeah.

- -

Oh, boy. Oh, boy, it's starting. Here we go.

Danielle Bates.

Lily Catherine Bolka.

Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you the class of 2018.

-Graduates, move your tassels! -

One… two… You're good!

Hi.

-Hi, Mom. -Hello, honey.

-Are you gonna cry? -Yep.

-Why are you crying? -'Cause I'm so proud of you.

So many have said to us, "Lucky girl."

Maybe.

Who am I to say?

You came to us open and ready to be loved.

We were lucky.

You easily laughed and trusted.

We are the lucky ones.

No one really knows what goes on in that matching room in China.

But as your Hebrew middle name says,

"My God has answered… answered my prayers."

From the moment I held you,

I've felt like the luckiest woman in the world.

When she said that, it made me think of, like, my other mom

and like… if she was here, or…

how life would be different if I grew up with her.

And what it would be like to be in a different family.

I kind of want to get to know, like, more of my Chinese side.

I wanna learn, like, Mandarin,

and I want to go to China and see all the places and stuff.

It all started…

I think I was in 7th grade,

and, um, my dad was like, "Oh, there's this website called 23andMe."

"And you, like, spit into a tube."

-It's like a science experiment. - Mm-hmm.

We did 23andMe because at the doctor's office,

we cross out that entire section of family-related health issues.

I invited Chloe, probably, 20 times to go to Chinese dance.

-No interest. -

But when we found out

that she had a cousin,

a blood cousin,

living in Tennessee, who was roughly around her age--

-That she was interested in. -She was interested.

That and the fact that she was related to Yo-Yo Ma distantly.

Yeah!

And that's how I found Sadie.

We've been Snapchatting for the last few months.

-Hey! -Hi!

I think I was really surprised.

There are so many people in this world, and to be connected to, like, Sadie

was just shocking to me.

I just… I love animals. They're adorable.

-Yeah, I so want a puppy. -Puppy works.

I always go through these phases, like wanting a puppy or a…

like, I don't know, bird.

A hedgehog.

Like… But I always want them to be like, my little, like,

-sidekicks or whatever, like… -

But it never works out, so…

Why didn't you tell me about any of these cousins?

I think I have, and you haven't listened, but…

Okay, here's Lily.

Oh, you have eight relatives in common too.

Oh!

Dear Lily, my name is Sadie.

I live… in Tennessee,

and I was adopted

in the Guangdong Province.

Uh, here's how you spell that.

Should I send?

Go ahead and send it.

I only thought I had Chloe.

-Hi! - Hey!

Oh, my God! I can't believe I'm finally meeting you.

I know, this is so cool.

-I like your necklace. - Thank you!

I literally just keep all my necklaces on me, like, at all times.

Like, I never take them off. Yeah, and so…

- Show me the pictures. - Okay.

Your new cousins. Not your old cousins.

Okay, that's Sadie. Do we look alike?

Mm-hmm.

- A little bit, maybe. - Maybe?

I see some resemblance there, I think.

I decided to do a DNA test

'cause I wanted to find more about who I am and my past.

When I heard from Sadie,

it opened up new ideas to, like…

About, like, our adoption.

Is this working?

- Got it. -Oh, hey!

- -Hi!

-Hi! - Hey!

Oh my God, this is so cool.

I've never done, like, Google Hangout like this.

So, how are your lives going?

I'm looking forward to Friday.

It's been, like, the longest week,

and I don't like it.

Don't worry, I was struggling too. I feel like we're all tired.

I've also thought about, "Okay, where do I begin with my life story?"

-I guess we could start really, beginning… - Yeah.

Yeah, we were all in an orphanage in the southern part of China.

I guess it's, like, Guangzhao, I guess in that area, maybe.

- Guangzhou. Yes. - Oh!

Wait, we were from the same orphanage?

Yes, Chloe, you and I were.

Yeah, it's kinda cool. It's not "kinda," it's pretty cool.

- - Yeah.

You know, though, I thought about it, like, in the past,

like, why they might have abandoned me.

And I just kind of thought it was because of that one-child rule in China.

Yeah.

I feel like I don't really, like,

truly know the reason. Like, that's just what they assume.

Oh, yeah.

So, that'd be your great-great-grandfather.

That's Uncle Sam. Must be when he joined the military.

We've put flowers on his grave.

That's a picture of your great-grandmother when she was a baby.

She came from Ireland. I've got a quilt she made in 1840.

That's cool.

James Franklin.

He would have been a great-great-great grandfather.

On my dad's side, we can go back to almost 900.

Um, Mom's side,

eh, it's more spread out and varied,

but we have it back to around 1600, I think.

Then this'd be Anna Fulton, the one who died from tuberculosis.

I don't necessarily feel connected to them.

I know that's part of my family, but technically they have no ties to me.

That's my mom and my aunt.

The orphanage told my mom that I was left in a box

near a busy street.

I imagined it being really early in the morning.

Someone found me and took me to the orphanage.

Sometimes, I'm like, "Whoa, they're out there."

"Like, I might have, like, siblings out there."

It's kind of weird to think, like, how different my life would be.

When Sadie was probably two or three years old,

I decided that I'm gonna do the DNA on her.

I wanted to find her biological family

because I want her to at least have the opportunity to know her history.

But it didn't happen.

Sadie… I think she struggles sometimes between, "I want to know all this"

and "I just want to be a typical teenager."

Uh, may I try the goat cheese with red cherries?

Yeah, I feel like being adopted isn't my identity.

Just like your middle name, not that many people know about it,

but it's there.

You were holding your phone up…

Can you speak Chinese?

I mean, you used to live there.

What origins are you? Like, what's your…

- - I'm Hispanic.

-I lived in Ecuador for, like, two years. -Do you speak Spanish?

So, a friend's dad, he's Chinese.

He comes up to me and starts speaking to me in Chinese.

I'm like, "Sorry, I don't know Chinese."

And he just looked so disappointed and walked away from me.

He completely stopped talking to me. I was like, "Nice to meet you too."

We did for the first…

I honestly don't feel Chinese.

So many of my friends call me a "banana." They're like, "Sadie, you act so white."

"Like, you are, like, the whitest Chinese person I've ever met."

I don't know.

I've just always identified myself as an American.

Hello, and welcome to the 8th grade Hebrew play!

I think Chloe appreciates her Jewish education,

but she's had enough.

She made clear that she was not going to a Jewish school henceforth.

We're moving to Phoenix next month,

and I'm going to attend high school.

I wanted the school to have Mandarin.