Sometimes we forget,
We take advantage of the people we have with us everyday.
We forget to say, “I love you,”
Every time they walk out the door.
But what we don’t realize,
For some people,
Those people will never walk through the door.

She was just born when she was taken away.
At just a week old,
She was with people she didn’t belong to.
Only 2 years later,
She was with a new family.
One that she didn’t know.
She was terrified of the new faces,
The new “mommy” and “daddy,”
And besides,
What happened to the old ones?

She grew up wondering who would be next.
Who would she be shipped to next,
And would they be mommy and daddy too?

We grow up in fear that we’ll lose our parents,
But what about those who live with the fear of meeting them?
The ones that fear they’ll never know who their parents are?
And for her,
Fearing ever seeing her mom,
Fearing 3 years from now,
When a man comes from an orange jumpsuit
With arms wide open
Screaming, “Come to daddy!”
And how could she ever love someone who didn’t raise her?
But how could she ever love a family
She doesn’t really belong to?
Or possibly not love her own father?

Only, family isn’t about blood.
Family doesn’t care about an ancestor tree,
And you certainly don’t have to climb it
To figure out who you truly are.
Family is about who was there,
Who was always there.
It’s about the nights you stay up late,
Looking at your big sister
Trying to be just like her,
And not missing a beat.
It’s still trying to be like her,
Even when they say,
“Here’s your real sister.”
It’s remembering those faces you saw
For the first time ever,
Those faces you were terrified of seeing again
Because you just wanted your first mommy and daddy back.
And it’s your big sister staying up late,
Praying, dreaming, hoping,
That you’ll never leave her.
It’s looking up to those faces,
Growing in light of them,
Because they helped you to grow.
It’s being left at the hospital
Because you weren’t wanted
In that family anymore,
It’s being looked straight in the eye,
Told that you weren’t loved by your mom,
And relying on a new family,
A new mom,
To tell you
That you mean the world to her.
It’s being unloved and unwanted
But being able to love more because of it.

And for me,
Family means the world.
It’s a little sister,
Who in 4 years of her life,
And 2 years of mine,
Has taught me more than any textbook ever could.