The Road to Being Okay

From the Beginning

      I remember this day perfectly. Not what month or what season or the exact date, but the series of events. At seven years old, my mother was deemed unfit to mother her three children in court against my grandmother on my father's side. My father, of course, having only a few dollars to his name, was deemed unfit to financially support me and my two brothers and could do nothing but watch, in terror, as his children were passed on to his mother as if we hadn't been attached to the woman who have birth to us and the man who changed our diapers. It was only the next day, I was woken up, as was my little brother, Lucas, of four years, along with the eldest, Tanner, who was nine...suitcases packed. Every toy. Every piece of clothing, every sign of children, packed away, awaiting grandma's arrival. While we waited we watched The Lion King, Lucas and I completely oblivious of just how long our sleepover at grandma's was lasting. It wasn't until we started driving away that I realized we had a new home and I didn't have Mommy or Daddy to run to. I think back to the day before. Mommy was crying saying something about coming for us when she got a job. I didn't understand. I watched my parents faces as they grew smaller, observing the fear in their eyes. Fear that they would lose us forever.