Revelations

shared by Michelle, who's last day of interning with us is today...

I've known her since nearly the day I was born. She has remained a force in my life the years thereafter. Over the years, we had shared every aspect of our lives with each other. Well that’s what I thought.

I came to town to visit and we were spending a rainy night at the theater, as we have many times before. On the drive there we talked about our lives, as we have many times before. I told her about my experience working at the National Adoption Center and about some children living in foster care that I had the opportunity to meet. At that moment there was a silence in the car. I had no idea that what I said would turn into a conversation that would change the way I perceived her.

She’s the daughter of a close relative. But when her parents could no longer take care of her, she was put into foster care, moving from house to house for six years. She cried on my shoulder as she was telling me. I wished my embrace could take those years away, take the pain away. She remembered everything like it was yesterday. She knew what it felt like to feel unwanted, craving nothing but stability. This was her life, until other relatives of mine took her in. They adopted her and gave her the home she had always wanted.

I always thought that she was amazing. But after hearing her story and the triumph that she’s made, she’s so much stronger than she even realizes. I hope she remembers where she came from and looks at where she is now. Adoption changed her story. It makes me even more proud to say that I work for the National Adoption Center. To say that I may have had a hand in helping a child find a forever family.