Budding Friendship

If you would have told me that I would become friends with my foster children's parents, I would have laughed in your face.  I bet if you had asked Erin, Bram's mom, if she would become friends with the family who took care of Bram, she would have laughed too.  But that is exactly what happened.

I made sure Erin and I were in regular contact.  I sent her pictures and videos of Bram all the time (daily, if she asked for them) and texted her about what was going on in his life.  I texted her to see how she was doing in her recovery and how Ibro, Bram's dad, was doing in his.  They were doing great!  They were both working H A R D on their recovery, and I would like to think that knowing that Bram was well taken care of helped them focus on THEM and not have to worry about him (of course they worried, but you know what I mean!)

We had talked on the phone many times before we actually met in person.  By the time The Agency and the case planners set up a "getting to know you" ice breaker meeting, it was almost laughable.  We already had spent hours talking and texting, not only about Bram but about our lives.  Since Darryl had ten years clean at that point, he offered to be a resource to both Erin and Ibro.  He made sure they knew that he knew what they were going through.  He wanted them to know that recovery was possible and that you could live a good life without drugs or alcohol.

After meetings, Erin and Ibro would come over to spend time with Bram.  At first they had "supervised" visits at The Agency, but quickly those were changed to visits in my home.  They were considered supervised, because I was there at the same time, but I allowed them to feed and care for their son and have the run of my house.  If I had cooked, I would offer them food (Darryl would offer coffee, but since I detest it, I left that up to them!)

One of Erin's sons went up to his teachers, a friend of mine, and said, "I think your friend Rebecca is taking care of our baby for us."  Everything was open and friendly and, dare I say, family oriented.  When I met her sons, one of them looked at my car and said, "Turtles and ninjas?  I think we are going to have a lot in common!"  Erin would bring the boys over to visit and more than once they asked to sleep over!  The younger son asked if I would be his grandmother and it became a joke that I was going to adopt Ibro (I am, sadly, old enough to be his mother...)

Erin promised me that even after Bram went home, he would always be in our lives.  That made us both happy.  We loved him.  The thought of him not living with us was painful.  I couldn't imagine what his parents were going through.