After care

Knowing I didn’t have to go back to foster care was the best thing ever. And I mean EVER!!

Adjusting to life after care at home with my mother didn’t take long at all. Things got really great, really fast.

I had a year or two before going to high school so was really excited to be ‘one of the normal kids’.

My two best friends were still firmly by my side – honestly, like glue. We went to every after school club going (because I now could). Gymnastics, ribbon dancing, Scrabble, line dancing. You name it, we were there! And before you ask, yes I can still get a really high score in Scrabble (dare I say a winning score?) while nailing a ‘kick ball change’.

While all this excitement was happening in my life my mother was slipping again. She back to  spending her days in bed. Jumping in for cuddles was amazing but I knew she should be up. We were older this time though and more prepared. My sisters and I got ourselves up and ready on these days. We also had two fiercely strong female neighbours to help us. Mam was ill again but no way were we going anywhere!

I coped by either spending time in bed/ avoiding the world or spending time with my friends.

Roxanne and I became completely inseparable fast. I practically lived in her house. Her mother, Kim, must have known my mother was ill but she didn’t once let on. She treated me as one of her own so much that I had my own seat at her family table and I still call her girls my  sisters – as far as I am concerned, they are.

I even got given pocket-money from Roxannes’s dad. Who, by the way still vets my boyfriends and is not afraid to call me up on my more inappropriate outfit choices, haha! In all seriousness, if I wasn’t accepted as part of the family I would have spent my days wishing I could be.

I will be eternally grateful for Roxanne and her family. As you will find out, they have saved me more times than they will even know.

That couple of years passed in a bit of a blur but it wouldn’t be long until I was in high school and then I would remember a whole lot more.