All Aliyah knew was that she’d
been abandoned near a police station. She
never knew her birth parents and never will.
She suffered abandonment issues from that day, often
dreaming about them coming to get her; waiting and thinking up rescue scenarios. Each night she said a prayer that, wherever her
Mom was, she was safe and had found peace in letting her baby go.
For the first 10 years, she was in and out of numerous neglectful,
abusive or otherwise love-less foster homes.
Some memories will never leave.
She spent 3 years with a lady who blew the monthly stipend
from DCFS on her own kids while Aliyah ate maybe once a day, if lucky. But the woman was generous with beatings;
some bordering on torture (making her kneel on uncooked rice seemed a favorite
of hers).
Aliyah grew up believing
that exploitation and desertion were normal.
If the system was a teacher, then she was incredibly cruel.
Some places were more like group homes where she shared a
room with four or more other abandoned kids.
Some were nice. Others acted out –
physically, emotionally, even sexually.
Holidays just reminded her what she lost. Once she even came into a new home the day
before Christmas and expected to fit right in – to pretend that she liked all their
holiday traditions. They never stopped
to think it was overwhelming, different or depressing for her.
Earlier this year, Jasmine and Terrell Williams entered her story.
They’d fostered more than a dozen
children over the years. But because
there was no chance of Aliyah ever being reunited with her parents, the Williams’
felt a special love for her.
As they gathered around the Christmas tree, there was a
knock at the door.
“Aliyah – could you get the door please,” Terrell asked.
She opened the door to an old-fashioned Santa Claus holding
an envelope in his outstretched mitten. “This
is for you Aliyah, from two people who really love you and that believe gifts
should be of the heart.”
She opened the envelope and removed a simple card that read:
“Merry Christmas Aliyah, if you’ll have us, we’d love to ADOPT you and complete
our family.” Signed Jasmine and Terrell
Beneath the frenetic calls of
money, gifts and Christmas cheer, there’s a quietness that whispers of love as
our truth. When we invite the stillness
in, there is a sense of thankfulness strong enough to greet storms and sunny
days just the same. Merry Christmas my
friends!
