【寄養家庭日記 3】十年後的輪迴

It turns out I haven't written a foster family diary in a long time.

I've been busy with company projects lately, and coincidentally, I had to take a long-haul flight. Now I finally have time to slowly organize this "foster family" series.

As I write this, we're preparing to welcome our seventh child next week. Looking back, I realize how far we've come.

Last time, we talked about the first foster child who came to our home, a boy who was one and a half years old.

Within the world of foster care, he was arguably the happiest person from his original family. His mother only needed a short-term referral due to a sudden hospitalization, and he was the only one with a clear timetable to return home. At the time, we thought that the psychological burden of being a "short-term visitor" would be the lightest. Later, we discovered that none of the subsequent cases we handled were as "simple" as his.

When I brought him back, my son was already in sixth grade. My wife and I hadn't had a baby for ten years. Our memories of raising a child were like folders locked deep inside an old computer desktop, now grayed out, and we never opened them.

For the first few days, we were completely in "semi-new parent" mode, constantly clumsy and overwhelmed. Amidst the daily chaos, we slowly rediscovered that long-lost feeling of exhaustion and joy. Fortunately, this boy was very cooperative: he could walk, play, and eat well. The only thing was that every night before bed, he seemed to need to feel that sense of security, and we had to take turns holding him for two or three hours before he would finally fall asleep.

"Back then, I was holding him and walking around the living room, thinking to myself: I thought the next time I would hold a baby like this would have to wait until I was taking care of my grandchildren. I didn't expect that in about ten years, the cycle would repeat itself so quickly."

About a month later, his mother recovered and was able to take him home. Before leaving, he wrote a greeting card for my wife.

Having been a foster family for so many years, this card is still the first and only one we've ever received. In this age where everyone is used to AI writing, those few lines of heartfelt words are more precious than any data.

Preview: That "young lady" who brought tears to our eyes

After that child left, a short time later, a second child arrived. She was also the "princess" we were most reluctant to part with. My wife still gets teary-eyed every time she talks about her. How did this child "teach" us to let go, and how did she leave a window in our hearts that can never be erased?

I'll save that story for another time.

See you next time.