My Mom Left Me in a Cardboard Box in the Supermarket
My Mom Left Me in a Cardboard Box in the Supermarket When I Was a Baby – 20 Years Later, She Returned and Asked for My Help. 
Did I Make the Right Decision?
My mother left me in a supermarket when I was only a few months old with a few photos of herself and a note. For twenty years, I grew up wondering why she abandoned me and if she would ever come back. Despite my curiosity, I moved forward, building a life and family of my own.
The photo you see was taken by a kind store clerk who found me that fateful day. She became my guardian and raised me as her own, giving me the love and support I needed. I always kept this photo as a reminder of where my life began. Recently, I received an unexpected knock on my door.
To my shock, there she was — my mother, frail and looking old. She looked at me with a mix of regret and desperation in her eyes. Hi, darling! I am your mother and I need your help. My mind raced with a mix of confusion, joy, and anger. Before I could say anything, she shocked me so much to the core that tears streamed down my cheeks when she said …do you still have the photos I left with you that day? Those photos mean everything to me.”
Her words hung in the air, and I felt like the ground had just shifted beneath me. All these years, I’d clung to those photos, using them as symbols of the mother I’d longed to know. Now here she was, asking if I still had them—not asking if I’d missed her, or if I’d grown up well. She only wanted to know about the photos.
I nodded slowly, reaching for the small, worn envelope I’d kept since childhood. My hands trembled as I held it out to her, feeling vulnerable. She took it with a sigh of relief, almost snatching it from my hands. Then, as though oblivious to the storm of emotions brewing inside me, she opened the envelope and carefully inspected each photo.
After a few long moments, she finally looked up, noticing the pain etched across my face. Her expression softened, and she said, “You don’t understand. I had to leave you. I was… I was in a dangerous situation, and I thought leaving you was the only way to keep you safe. I needed these photos back because they contain something important… something I couldn’t keep with me back then.”
Her cryptic words just added to the mix of frustration and sorrow building up inside me. “Why come back now, after all these years? And why didn’t you ever try to reach out or check if I was okay?” My voice cracked as I spoke, a mixture of anger and heartbreak spilling over.
