Читать книгу Finding Zoe - Gail Harris - Страница 8

FOREWORD

ALL CHILDREN COME into our lives for a reason. Some are born to us, some are the children of friends or family, and some are brought to us through miracles. Some miracles come easy; others are disguised by struggles and weighted with challenges and tough decisions. Finding Zoe is the story of remarkable connections that entwined four families and led one baby girl away from perceived limitations and into the home of the mother—and family—that was meant to raise her.

I met Brandi Rarus for the first time when she became my understudy in the play Children of a Lesser God at the Immediate Theatre Company in Chicago. As teens, the two of us grew up in different suburbs of Chicago, but we shared the common experience of navigating our way through the mainstream at rival high schools. Midway through the play’s run, I captured the part of Sarah Norman in the movie version of Children of a Lesser God, and, at the age of 21, I became the youngest recipient of an Academy Award.

My work has honored me with the privilege of worldwide travel, where I have met deaf and hard-of-hearing children from all walks of life. Like Brandi, I have always moved easily between the hearing and Deaf communities, but rather than seeing the separation between the two, I recognize that we all live in one world—a world in which our differences can be celebrated. I learned long ago to embrace who I am and what I believe in, and Brandi experiences a similar journey in Finding Zoe.

Since those early days, our lives have taken off in different directions, but our paths continue to cross at various events within our Deaf community. Like Brandi, I’m a mother of four children, a role that has always kept me centered and grounded in the midst of a whirlwind acting career. I know without question that the love a mother has for her child is fierce and strong and that whether that child is biological or adopted, a mother’s heart knows no boundaries. Zoe began her life with two extremely young parents, a first set of adoptive parents, and foster parents, and then found her way into the hearts of Brandi’s family—where she belonged all along. Finding Zoe isn’t just the story of a deaf child’s journey; it is a story of love, heartache, sacrifice, and celebration.

Our stories in life are never really about what divides us anyway. Instead, they are about what brings us together in love, in sacrifice, in our heartaches, and in our joys. They are about how we survive when hope fades and how we rise above the crush of our own self-doubt. What we discover along the way is that our own perceptions are critical to our happiness and that our miracles are always found in acceptance and celebration of our differences.

—MARLEE MATLIN, ACADEMY AWARD–WINNING ACTOR