Before you read this I would just like to say that this is a bunch of true stories about different people in my life woven together and changed so that all the events happend to a single person
Family was always a strange concept for Maddie, she never felt apart of a family. She had been in the foster care system as long as she could remember, the only constant in her life was her older brother. They were separated in the foster care system from a young age, but they always stayed in contact. For Maddie family was a hard concept to grasp. Living in the foster care system Maddie had seen many different family dynamics, but each one appeared to fit together, exerted for Maddie. She felt like she would never belong anywhere.
It was a warm september evening when she first heard the news. She was sitting across from her third foster family, the Smith’s. She enjoyed living with them, although it never felt like home. Mrs. Smith continued to talk, but Maddie was hardly paying attention, she was starring at the peculiar patters on the curtains. She had only been living with the Smiths for three months and was still getting used to their elaborate decor. Finally, Maddie pulled her gaze from the curtains and began to listen more intently.
Mrs. Smith explained to Maddie that she would be sent to a boarding school in Guam for the duration of her stay under the Smith’s care. Maddie was excited, but also nervous. She had never been outside of the country, but she wasn’t getting a good education in the school she was currently attending, so she figured a change a pace would be good.
Before leaving for the airport Maddie decided to video chat her brother, Tyler. Maddie checked the time, it was five o’ clock, Tyler should be home from work by now. Unlike Maddie Tyler had been with the same foster family since he was little. Tyler was 16 and would be 17 in a few short months. Tyler answered the video chat after the third ring. They talked for what felt like hours. She told him how she was going to Guam, and all of the latest gossip about her new foster family. He told her everything going on at his end, but something seemed to be bothering him, so finally she asked, “Is something wrong?”
“You’ve always been able to read me so well,” Tyler replied with a sigh.
“So there is something wrong… What is it,” Maddie was nervous to here the answer. Tyler hardly worried about anything. Of the two of them he was definitely the optimist.
“Well, nothing is… wrong…. it just…. Mom contacted me last night, she said she’s changed and what to be a part of our lives again, and I don’t know what to think. She was been in and out of our lives and we haven’t seen her in two years…I’m sorry to be dumping all of this on you, right before you leave.”
Maddie didn’t know what to say. She didn’t really know what she thought, she wasn’t sure she even wanted answers. She had always had questions about her past, but her brother was all she really needed. He was the constant in her life and she loved him. He was the only family she had ever really known, but she still cared about her birth mom. They had a unique relationship that was hard to explain, Maddie didn’t even understand it.
“It’s not your fault, I just don’t know what I think. I guess i still have a lot of questions,” Maddie sputtered.
Maddie heard someone yell in the background of Tyler’s screen. Tyler turned around and yelled beck that he would be there in a minute, and then turned back to Maddie.
“I know what you mean. I have to go, but call me as soon as you land, I promise as soon as I turn 18 I will try to gain custody of you, and we can live together as a family, just you and me.”
Then he hung up. The thought of having a family all her own, a place where she fit was amazing. She had always dreamed of the perfect family, but living in the Foster system had showed Maddie that no family was perfect, but all were unique.
Next thing Maddie knew was that she was in Guam. At first the school was amazing. The academics were far better than her old school and she exceeded in all her classes, but socially it was hard. Everyone grouped it clicks and talked only to people who were like them. It was nothing like she had thought being an international student would be. She didn’t have to worry though she would be transferring to another school in Guam next semester.
It felt like that semester took forever, but finally it finished and she transferred, but the next school was no better. By the end of the year she had enough, but she was not a quitter. Only video chats with her brother got her through the day, but he worked and with the different time zones it was hard.
She had just finished the year when she got a call. It was Mrs. Pickering. She was in charge of Maddie as she went through the foster care system. She told Maddie that she would finish the last few weeks of school, and then would be flown home to a different foster family. This was nothing new for Maddie, and she was tired of the school in Guam.
A few weeks later she was living with the Fords. The Ford’s were a big family. They had two daughters, one older then Maddie and one younger, and a little boy. All of the kids were great, although they were loud and ofter argued, but it was the most fun she had ever had with a foster family before. She didn’t have any summer plans having been suddenly swept away from Guam, but that didn’t matter because the Ford’s did. They were going to China, and they were going to bring Maddie with them.
The China trip was great, they had a wonderful time, that is until it happened. Both families wanted to go to Starbucks. The Fords bought all the kids waters. The water came in glass bottles. After everyone had gotten their drinks, they started off down the streets of Shanghai to there next activity. Maddie was walking along with them talking to, Katie, one of the Ford’s daughters. Katie and Maddie were hardly paying attention to anything around them, they were deeply involved in the conversation. Next thing she knew, Katie was falling to the ground. She put her hands out in front of her to catch her fall, while still holding the water bottle. She smashed her hand on the bottle and there was blood everywhere. The Ford’s were both in the medical field so they stayed calm, the Mom quickly got a taxi and took Katie to the hospital, while Maddie and the rest of the Ford’s children stayed with Mr. Ford.
Just a few days later everyone was home from the trip. Maddie was sitting in the guest room and pulled out her laptop in order to video chat with Tyler. She told Tyler all about China, and even what happened to Katie. She talked about how even though it was hard on the family they still came together and cheered Katie up. Maddie talked for a long time with Tyler about all of the different types of Family dynamics she had experienced. In the past couple years all her families had been amazing. Tyler then told Maddie all about his summer working and raising money. He had finally raised enough money to buy an apartment which he would buy as soon as he turned eighteen, which would be in a few short months.
The next few months passed by quickly for Maddie. She was always great in school, and being in school in the United States was simply grand. Today was Tyler’s eighteenth birthday and Maddie had surprised him with the down payment on the apartment he had been looking at. They were both so excited. The court had approved him as her legal guardian. She was going to have a family of her own, a place where she fit in.
