I recently visited a long time friend of mine and her family. It was sort of a last minute visit. I was driving with my family, coming home from vacation and we realized that we were close to their house. Being the impertinent folks that we are, we rang up and asked if we could come by. They, being the gracious folks that they are said, "Sure and please spend the night." They then added that they had two foster children, brothers, ages 4 and 2 move in three days before.
This got me thinking. I have known my friend since she and I were about three years of age. So we have been friends for awhile. She is a very giving person. I told her outright that I thought both she and her husband and their three children were very brave to be doing this. I am much too selfish to undertake such a humanitarian gesture. Though I am a parent, I have remained selfish. Not as selfish as I used to be, but selfish nonetheless and a bit immature.
The truth of the matter is that I need time alone. If I don't get it, I will almost resort to lying, cheating, and stealing to see that I get my own space and peace every once in a while. I am also prone to going through long phases of needing more alone time and more often then I do at other times. I couldn't imagine for a minute being a foster parent. Not only am I selfish and immature, I just couldn't bear to get attached to a child or children who could be taken from me at any point in time.
So my thoughts are with my brave friend and her family. They have been preparing for this for a while (of course they thought that they would only be getting one child at a time) and so far they seem to be navigating these uncharted waters swimmingly well. These children couldn't ask for a better temporary home. I applaud their efforts to make the world a better place for children one, or two, children at a time.
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