Jan 12 2009
Typing at 75 MPH
Isn’t technology grand? I am currently in the car and traveling homeward from Grandma’s house. I am traveling about 75 mph in the middle of nowhere, yet still connected with the world. In some ways I suppose this is kind of a shame. You can’t just get away anymore. Now anyone can reach us anywhere and at anytime. I used to enjoy being unreachable for a while.
It certainly makes it easier to multitask. Hubby is driving (obviously), Kiddo is in the back playing cars, and I have found a new way for some time to write and reflect. We’ll see how well this works. Hubby is in control of the iPod, and let’s just say his musical taste is different than mine. Since I usually use music to help me clear my mind of the clutter so I can focus, trying to do that without my usual soundtrack is a challenge. Case in point, right now we’re listening to the Jeopardy skits from Saturday Night Live. Yeah, those are the ones with Will Ferrell as Alex Trebeck. Sure, they’re funny…but highly distracting.
And the answer is…Buck Futter .
In case you hadn’t noticed, there’s been something I’ve thus far avoided writing about. Some might expect a blog about fostering kids to actually be about, well, fostering kids. Ok ok ok. I’ll start writing about fostering kids.
The reason I have kinda been avoiding the topic is because I’ve been struggling a little with a way to really give a monumental undertaking like this proper justice. I don’t want to mislead anyone. It’s very hard, but very easy. It’s rewarding, yet costly. It’s simple, yet complicated.
Confused? Yeah, so am I.
The reason this is such a mess is fundamental. We’re talking about human lives here. When you dealing with lives, you’re dealing the powerful emotions. There are complicated legal elements involved, and they will often compete with your moral sensibilities.
Please keep in mind, for every success, there is a failure, but that works both ways. Remember what I said in a previous post that no matter what happens, the greatest gift you can give these kids is love. Opening your home to foster children allows them to have a chance at a “normal” life, even for a short time. If it’s not a warm and loving home, then they often end up in facilities and group homes. As fantastic as some of those places are, it’s just not the same as being in “regular” home.
If adoption is your final goal heading into this, the term “foster” is your worst enemy. It suggests temporary…non-permanent. Until parental rights are terminated, and even up all the way up until that adoption is finalized, there will be an underlying fear in the back your mind that this could all end in the next minute. Everytime the phone rings, your stomach will do somersaults. Without even realizing it, your muscles will relax as soon as you check the caller ID, and miraculously when you answer the phone, no one will know that they just sent your blood pressure spiking off the charts.
I wrote a short story to submit on a site I participate in. They were looking for “stories with an edge.” Most submissions are blood and gore slasher stories, but to me a broken heart is a lot more terrifying. My story is a short and simple account of what it might be like to be a foster parent that loses a child. Click here to read it .
Hope you had a good weekend. We had a blast at Grandma’s, but are glad to be heading home.
