One of the joys of aging in place as a journalist is seeing stories unfold across generations.
About 20 years ago, I wrote a column about a young Chattanooga woman, Karen Weaver, who traveled abroad to adopt a 3-month-old baby girl from a Vietnamese orphanage.
For years, Karen, along with her late husband Larry, ran downtown restaurants, first on East 10th Street and later in Warehouse Row. When they decided to adopt internationally in 1995 it was a happy human interest story.
That child, Rachael, is now a radiant 20-year-old woman. I met with Rachael and her mother, Karen, one day last week at Chef Lin Buffet in East Ridge. They were just back from Rachael’s first return visit to Vietnam, a 13-day journey to the capital city of Saigon.
Rachael, a student at O’More College of Design in Franklin, Tenn., opened her fortune cookie during our lunch at Chef Lin and read the message to the table.