May the Wind Always Blow on Your Back

There are a lot of adoptive parents that are currently in rough waters. A lot of families trying to heal traumatized children the best they can. Sometimes their intentions are misconstrued, their motivation judged. Truth is always filtered through one's reality. When your reality is so different from another person's, there may not be a way to bridge that gap. Sometimes, the only way to move on is to acknowledge that at this time, in this place, there can be no meeting of minds. Good bye, sweetie. Best wishes and may life offer you all that is good.

A Good Day

The girls had a good day today. I don't know why it happened or when it will happen again. No rages, no manipulation, no tears. Hope got on the bus with no "help", they came off the bus smiling. No tantrums because the weather canceled swimming. They agreed on a movie and watched it nicely. They played in their kitchen and took turns.

After dinner, we acknowledged their good day by celebrating Christmas in July with hot chocolate in Christmas cups, topped with ice cream. They went to bed easily. I don't remember when their last good day was, although I could look it up. I don't need to. Hope smiled at me and said," This was my first good day ever".

Good enough for me :)

That Smile

Today it is gray, rainy, and cool in our part of New York. Hope wouldn't get up and pulled the covers over her head, whining about being tired. GB got up, used the bathroom, and looked out the window. She said "It's a yucky day out there. Let's go back to bed and cuddle." I debated between fighting the usual battle to get Hope up and going and GB's request. This morning it was a no-brainer. GB and I climbed back into bed and cuddled. I put no time limit on it; I just allowed myself to enjoy it. Eventually, Hope got up to tell me we were late and going to miss the bus. I smiled and told her we already had. GB thought this was the funniest thing.

They did get dressed and eat breakfast. I drove them to school. When I kissed them good bye and told them to have a great day, GB still had a huge smile on her face. That smile was worth more than whatever she missed by being 30 minutes late.