Last night I cried my way through a screening of the acclaimed documentary “Somewhere Between“.
This film follows four teen girls, previously adopted from China into American families, as they navigate life stuck somewhere between their two cultures. Two of the teens travel back to China and [Spoiler alert!] one even reconnects with her birth family. It was VERY well done, highlighting the implication of the one child law in China and underlying social pressures of procuring a male heir from the touching prospective of the adoptee.
The seemingly countless memoirs I’ve cataloged since embarking on our own adoption journey came to life on the screen and gave me an inside vantage of the heart of Chinese adoptees… and left me doing what my sweet friend calls The Ugly Cry: Not glamorous Days-of-Our-Lives-tears, but rather clear the sinuses, gasping for air tears.
To cap off what was already a rousing evening, local adoptive families were also invited to host a table and offer fundraising items for sale before and after the show. We hosted such a table with our “Fu” shirts. (As a reminder, fu means “blessing” in Mandarin.) We also had authentic Chinese wishing lanterns at our table and lit them off after the film. Only two took flight because it’s February in Montana (read: frigid cold nights), but it was still fun and we look forward to lighting more soon.
The Bozeman community truly rallied in support of adoption, both by attendance to the film and patronage to the fundraiser tables. I observed as one woman, aided by her two teen daughters, went table to table (eleven in all) and purchased our respective wares with $100 bills, refusing any change at each table. I want to be her. I want to be the mom who boldly models Christ’s love to others with the impressionable eyes of my daughters watching. What an inspiration.
Back to the movie itself… seriously, if your town is having a showing- go to it. You can locate upcoming screening locations here and follow their Facebook page to help spread the word. You won’t regret it.
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