I hope you are doing well on this first weekend of summer.
Yesterday, I was drawn into the news by new images of the children detained by the US government.
Some of the images and one special audio file made me cry again for the children being left in this inhuman situation.
I want to talk about my concern for the children.
I am using an example from my own life. It doesn’t come close to what these children go through right now. But will illustrate how easy a child is changed by events out of its control.
When I was nine months old my family faced a difficult financial time. My mother had to step in to provide for the family. My older brother was looked after by my grandmother living in the same house. She didn’t feel comfortable to look after a nine months old baby as well.
So my mother had to make the hard decision to send her nine months old girl to her own family that lived six hours away. (An expensive day trip at that time.)
For the first six months I lived with my godfather and his family. During that time I learned to walk and to talk. The many photos show a happy toddler with her cousins.
Then my aunt got sick and my other grandmother looked after me for another three months. She did her best but she was not at all impressed with that toddler that hadn’t learned yet to use the potty. (smile)
When I was ‘returned’ to my mother I didn’t recognize her.
You wonder perhaps, if I remember anything of that time at all?
Yes and no. Lots of my memories have been planted in me by others that told me the stories about my time away from my birth family.
After my mother had passed, I found beautiful loving letters from my aunt that she had written during that time. She talked about me and how I integrated into the family and had started to call my godfather 'Papa'. My mother had kept them all those years. I am happy to still have them.
Almost all my life I have struggled with a feeling of not knowing where I belong.
And yes, I thought out help with my difficulty to trust in intimate relationships.
You see, something was lost during that time away from my parents. It influenced some of my relationships and life decisions.
Taking children of all ages away from their parents will influence their future as well. I was in a loving environment. These children are in a unthinkable terrifying situation. Nothing has prepared them for this. How will they ever understand why they are not with their mothers and fathers.
I am grieving for the trust in others that has been taken away from the children.
I am grieving the decision makers missing empathy.
I am grieving.
Love and blessings,
Jacqueline
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