I have been meaning to blog about this for a few days now, but have been having a couple of “those days” in a row where I just can’t seem to get a break.

Surely by now you have heard about Toby Dawson, or “Awesome Dawson” as he is known…Olympic Bronze Medalist in freestyle skiing at the Turino Winter Olympics…adopted at a young age from Korea by a couple in Colorado (who were ski instructors)…recently reunited with his birth father and brother in South Korea at the age of 28.

You can read a good article about the reunion here courtesy of USA Today, complete with pictures (father and son REALLY look a lot alike!) and a video of the reunion.

In a nutshell, Dawson was lost in a Korean market at age three and eventually adopted internationally by a couple in Colorado. He started searching for his birth family a while ago, and when he won the bronze medal in Turino, he gained popularity in his country of birth, and his story got the attention of many in Korea. He had more than a few families come forward to “claim him”, which I can only imagine was extremely emotional and difficult for him.

He put off a trip to Korea until DNA tests confirmed who his real birth family was, and then this week traveled to Korea and met his birth father and birth brother. There has been no mention of the birth mother, other than the fact that she was the one with Dawson when he was lost in the market many years ago. The father says that upon learning his son had been lost he searched and searched local orphanages, but was unable to find his young son.

I think about this man and think how difficult that must have been… I can’t imagine losing a child and never knowing where they were or if they were ok. I can’t imagine finding that child again, 25 years later, and no longer speaking the same language or being familiar with one another, and yet at the same time seeing that child being a strong, healthy, well-loved, successful man.

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