Just Temporary

And in the beginning it was said to be a temporary situation.

“Can you watch Jade for a few hours?” she asked me. Of course I had said yes. After all, that house was full of roaches and filth. Anytime I could get a 3 month old baby out of that, I would.

Those few hours turned into overnights. Overnights begat days; days begat weeks. Jennifer lived in poverty and was overwhelmed keeping her four older children. Plus she was young- only 15 when she gave birth to the first of those kids. It was no wonder she relished the idea of someone taking responsibility for the baby.

“I’m going out of town for awhile, would you mind keeping Jade?” Jennifer had asked me. “It’s just temporary. I’ll be back soon.” Again, I said yes.

That was eighteen years ago.

Jade grew up from that happy baby into a beautiful, confident, intelligent young woman. During the years, Jennifer made the occasional phone call to the daughter she bore and sent cards on holidays. I signed the papers to become her legal guardian on her fifth birthday.

Jade asked me once why I took her so willingly when I didn’t have to. I answered simply, “You may not have been born of my blood but you were born of my heart.”

I often felt almost guilty at the life she fell into with us. Her biological siblings weren’t so fortunate. The oldest two ended up serving time for armed robbery and drugs and the other two, I heard, dropped out of high school and hustled for a living.

As I looked up to the stage where my daughter sat with the other graduates, I allowed my mind to travel back in time to those poignant words, “It’s just temporary.”