Texas couple was heartbroken to leave adopted girl's best friend behind in China — then neighbors made a life-changing call
Friends are our chosen family who make this mundane life worth living. Having to leave them and move to another corner of the world can be immensely heartbreaking, just like Dawson Clary and Hannah Skyes. They grew up in an orphanage together in China but had to face the misfortune of separation when Hannah was adopted by a couple in the US, tearing the duo apart, per ABC News. However, the couple’s empathy and fate led to a surprising turn of events for the kids, and a heartwarming reunion was in the works!
Dawson and Hannah, 3 and 4 years old in 2016, respectively, grew up side by side in an orphanage where they were each other’s only family. They both believed that they were brother and sister — until Hannah was adopted by a couple hailing from Texas. They did not realize that the kids were that close until they asked for Hannah’s pictures from her days back in the orphanage — in each picture, the kids were together, either holding hands or standing side by side. That is when the Skyes, Hannah’s adopted parents, decided to share about Dawson on their social media page to seek a couple nearby interested in adopting him.
“They just shared such a sweet and special bond,” Sharon Sykes shared with Good Morning America (GMA). “They were so close we just couldn’t imagine leaving him in China and him not having a forever family himself.” Serendipity played its magic, and a couple in the neighborhood found out about the boy through Facebook and decided to make him a part of their family. “Look at him. Look at his eyes and his smile. How could you deny that,” she said. “He’s just so sweet. We had to bring him home.”
The Clarys, Dawson’s adopted parents, brought him to the US, and the best friends had an overwhelming reunion at the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, after 11 months of distance, per CBS Dallas-Fort Worth. Inside Edition shared a video of their emotional airport moment. “He was so excited. He was so giddy. He just ran up to her and hugged her, and they rolled to the ground,” Amy Clary, Dawson’s mom, said to GMA. “They must have hugged 400 times. They kept hugging and getting so giddy that they would fall over.” Hannah’s mom, Sharon Skyes, added, “That went on for like 20 minutes.”
Clary and Skyes, who once used to be strangers, became “good friends” and ensured that Hannah and Dawson met regularly for play dates since his arrival in the US. They believed that their union created a possibility of a happier ending in the future. “Maybe wedding bells,” Sykes said, with delight.
Bonds are not defined by blood but by the love that two people have for each other in their hearts. A few years ago, Jia Sarnicola and Zuri Copeland grabbed media attention by believing themselves to be "twins" despite belonging to different racial groups. Sarnicola's mom, Ashley, shared, "They will tell you that they are twins and they have a long list of reasons why to back it up." When asked what "similarities" the girls had, Valencia, Copeland's mom, mentioned that they shared their birthdays and had physical similarities like their equal heights. They also enjoyed wearing matching outfits almost all the time.
The girls attended a birthday party where they were called out for the difference in their "skin color" by an older kid who commented that they had no reason for calling themselves "twins." Even though in tears, what Sarnicola said next to take a stand for her friendship gave even the adults "chill bumps." She said to the girl, "You don't know what you are talking about. We are twins because we share the same soul." Valencia was "thrown by that word" and believed that they had a lot to learn from the children.