When informed that her son had been found, 89-year-old Nguyen Thi Lam still thought her descendants were lying until she saw a photo of a man who looked exactly like her husband.
“That’s right Tuan,” the 49-year-old mother with the pain of losing her child exclaimed when she saw a round face, curly hair, bushy eyebrows, eyes, nose and mouth like her deceased husband.
Mr. Tuan reunited with Mr. Lam and his sister, on the morning of April 23, at Thanh Trang village, Ia Piar, Phu Thien, Gia Lai. Image: Family provided.
Mr. Lam said, one summer day in 1973, village 5, Phu Van commune, Phu Ly district, Ha Nam province informed people to go to cooperatives to divide rice and straw. In the evening, when she and her husband Nguyen Van Quoc returned home, they did not see their son Nguyen Van Tuan. The family exhorted the brothers and the neighbors to find them. A group went around the village, up and down the village to inquire, another group dived into the pond.
Husband and wife are like crazy, like crazy. They borrowed money, hired people, searched many neighboring provinces, even up to the border province of Lang Son. Nguyen Thi Anh, Lam’s eldest daughter, said: “That day my family was preparing to build a house, but in order to find her, the money, cattle, pigs, chickens, pots and pans in the house were sold out.”
After 6 years of searching for a child, the family went to build a new economic zone in Phu Thien district, Gia Lai province. But the pain of losing a child like a tumor in his body grew larger and larger, making him melancholy, became ill, and died in 1992. Mr. Lam was chanting and knocking every day, hoping to ease the pain. After Tet in 2022, the old woman shaved her head to become a monk. “We persuaded our mother to stay at home with her children and grandchildren, but it didn’t work,” shared Nguyen Thi Ban, a younger brother born after her brother went missing.
Mr. Nguyen Van Tuan, his son who was lost half a century ago, said that when he was only 6 years old, he was invited to the train station by a neighbor over ten years old to pick up his relatives. From home to there, you have to take a boat across the river, then cross another bridge. Two children slept at the train station one night, the next morning this person jumped the train ahead, leaving Tuan crying in the middle of the stream.
At this time, a man came to comfort the crying boy, but because Tuan did not remember where his home was, what his parents’ names were (the custom in the countryside often called Mr. to Nhan Hoa village, Hoang Hop commune, Hoang Hoa district, Thanh Hoa, about 100 kilometers away. After that, the boy was adopted by Mrs. Dong Thi Can and her husband and changed his name to Le Van Tuan.
Growing up, Tuan got married in the village and had three children. Life was hard, so he only organized a few trips to find his family on a small scale. He also sent information on a TV program to search but did not get a reply.
“I can only remember my name, my sister’s name is Anh, the person leading to the train station is named Phuc. After I had a younger brother, but died at a young age. My father worked as a carpenter or built bullock carts and buggies. The house is near the mountains.” Mr. Tuan, 55 years old, shared.
Relatives at his adoptive parents’ house in Thanh Hoa understood Mr. Tuan’s heart and encouraged him to post information online. After the 2019 posting on the Northern groups did not have a response, they continued to post again this past February on the Southern groups.
In Thanh Trang village, Ia Piar commune, Phu Thien district, Gia Lai province, Ms. Nguyen Thi Ban happened to know information about Mr. find relatives. All the information is the same with the person you have lost so she and her husband find a way to contact.
Mr. Tuan reunited with Mr. Lam and two younger sisters named Ban and Mai, on the morning of April 23. Image: Family provided
In the first phone call, Mr. Tuan and his eldest sister reviewed childhood memories. He mentioned the village well in front of the alley, the litchi tree in front of the house, the winter afternoons running after her to the fields in the mountains to pick leaves… The younger brother kept telling and the older sister kept crying because it was all correct. She knew for sure that this was her brother who had been missing for 49 years.
The very next day, Mr. Trieu Van Thinh, Ban’s husband, went to Thanh Hoa to meet, then took Mr. Tuan back to his hometown in Phu Van commune, Phu Ly. All fragmented, fuzzy memories were suddenly pieced together into a seamless block. After five decades of changing the stars, the man can still draw the path to the house, the shape of the old house facing the West in the past. This is the living room, the other is the room, from there you can walk a few steps to the side building and the pond. “The memories came flooding back and I couldn’t hold back my emotions,” he said chokingly.
A few days later, Mrs. Anh sent her daughter to a temple in Ba Ria – Vung Tau to pick up her mother. Seeing the first photo of Mr. Tuan, Mr. Lam snapped: “You fooled me. Tuan is very white, not as black as this person”. The niece continued to flip another photo to see Mr. Tuan fatter and whiter. This time, he noticed it and immediately packed up his things and returned home.
At 7 a.m. on April 23, the family gathered in front of the house to wait for the moment reunion. When the son got out of the car, the old woman’s eyes were blurred and her feet slowed down. Mother and daughter hugged each other in sobs, “My son!”, “Mom!”.
“From family members to passersby, no one can stop being touched. We encourage mother and brother Tuan: 50 years later, mother and daughter meet again, sadness has passed, joy has come. Now we have to laugh and spend our time. time for each other,” shared Mrs. Dao Thi Dang, Mr. Tuan’s wife.
Mr. Tuan and his wife, with their adoptive mother, and their descendants, on the wedding day of their second son, in Nhan Hoa village, Hoang Hop, Hoang Hoa, Thanh Hoa. Image: Family provided
Since then, the extended family seems to be going through great festivals. Mr. Tuan and his wife played with their mother and brothers in Gia Lai for a week, then with that group went to Thanh Hoa and returned to their hometown in Ha Nam to play until now.
The sisters encouraged Mr. and Mrs. Tuan to leave their house in Thanh Hoa, come to Gia Lai to live with farming land available, as well as have more time for their mother. However, Mr. Tuan thought of public life as well as nursing care, so he proposed to take his mother out to live with his wife and husband, taking care of both his birth mother and adoptive mother.
“Both mothers are old and weak. At the end of their lives, we don’t have much to live, so my husband and I hope to take care of both of them”, Mr. Tuan confided. Full meaning, wholehearted solution is supported by all.
In the past few days, when I saw my son again, Mrs. Lam seemed to be getting better. Currently, she is still visiting her grandchildren and her hometown, before returning home to her son this weekend.
“My biggest wish in life has been fulfilled, now I don’t want anything more,” the old woman confided.
Phan Duong
at Blogtuan.info – Source: vnexpress.net – Read the original article here
