My kid

[serene]

Four years ago last month (June 13th), wtfpotatoes arrived on our doorstep, delivered by the stork of oh-my-god-my-sister-is-useless. She (my kid, not my sister) was sixteen at the time, scared and tired and rejected.

We offered her a loving home with disorganized weirdos, and promised not to reject her. We gave her not enough space to stretch out in, and way too much seitan. But we never hit her, and we never rejected her, and we never threatened to stop loving her or told her she was the reason for all our problems, unlike other people in her life. When we decided she needed to move out at age twenty, we gave her time to get herself situated, bought her some furniture, helped her put it together, and remained faithful to our family bond.

Whenever I feel inadequate (and I'm not imagining this -- I am an inadequate parent in a lot of ways), I look at this marvelous young adult who has managed such a tumultous and difficult existence and come out of it as a kind, intelligent, generous person who loves her family deeply and lives her life responsibly. I am not the one to credit for that -- the kid is -- but I am so glad that my inadequacies were not enough to beat that goodness down.

Comments

[supergee]

You done good. I am not surprised.

[metaphortunate]

Cheerleading for all of you over here. You are awesome. No one is perfect, but as they say, 90% of life is showing up: and you were the one who showed up to be there for her, and then you were, and still are.

[wild_irises]

Inadequate, perhaps. But awesome, without a doubt. I am so deeply in admiration of what you did and how you did it.