MERI LIN

Luckily, Fred is quite dedicated despite his own parental issues and hers, and he is very happy to be starting a family with her.

Meri Lin is the older daughter in a family of four, with a mom, a dad, and a sister named Lissa Lee who is two years younger. She begins the story part-way through a liberal arts degree at NYU, which she will finishes up slowly after her baby is born.

Her storyline in the comic follows the story of her family issues, her pregnancy, and her preparation for the baby's arrival, but then after the baby is born she has to face some very difficult situations. Please don't continue to read the next section if you would rather be surprised about the very strange situation the baby presents.

Shortly after baby Amanda is born, Meri Lin starts noticing some unexplained phenomena in the apartment, leading to the ultimate discovery that her baby can make things move just by thinking about it. Rattled by the realization that her baby is special, she does research and panics when she finds out there is no record of any other person in existence who can do what her daughter does. Fear about her daughter's fate leads her to hide the child from the world, afraid that her baby will be taken away if she's ever found out.

Meri Lin journeys through motherhood as the parent of a unique baby. She has to figure out how to discipline her child and how to teach her to limit her talent as well as figure out what it's good for and keep her safe in the meantime. Poor Meri Lin is a bit excitable and paranoid, but she's doing the best she can. . . .

Another rather major spoiler follows:

When Meri Lin has to endure one of the hardest things a parent can ever deal with--the loss her her child when Amanda disappears from her room--she predictably has a very tough time of it, but she finds that she has an unexpected core of strength that allows her to keep her head and sail the stormy waters. She works hard to find her daughter, teaming with law enforcement, but the efforts yield no results. She eventually grieves her way to acceptance and goes back to school. She later becomes pregnant a second time, and she wonders what she's in for. Her son Benjamin is new on the scene, and seems almost too good to be true when it comes to normal milestones. She remains cautiously optimistic. . . .

Meri Lin is very short--about five feet tall--and average weight, and has long black hair, dark brown eyes, and an East Asian complexion. She's been gravitating toward wearing skirts and dresses more than pants as she's gotten older, and she rarely wears jewelry. Her birth name was Lin Ling. She faints easily when she is startled or overwhelmed, and she worries and overanalyzes often, but can come across as unemotional because she's pretty good at keeping it off of her face. Meri Lin is kind toward her partner, children, and friends, and tends to be on the quiet side, but is willing to assert herself when necessary. She speaks Mandarin with her parents and is fully bilingual. Her favorite drink is tea and she loves a good chocolate. She is an above-average cook. She knows a lot about flowers because she worked in her parents' flower shop when she was younger. She has a Liberal Arts/Humanities degree from NYU. She doesn't pay much attention to politics in general but is registered Democrat like her partner Fred. She considers herself very close with her sister Lissa Lee, but clashes with her parents on many subjects. (They now live in China and never met their grandchildren. Meri Lin suspects it is entirely because they don't like her choice of partner.)