This is a sad story of unexpected consequences. We had one child but, being unrepentant liberals, we wanted to adopt an older child and give them a better life. The boy we adopted was 6 and we knew going forward would not be easy, but our idealism won. He is now 43 and we gave up long ago hoping for anything other than he didn’t become homeless or in prison. In the beginning we had wonderful dreams, but because of early life abuse and neglect, he rejected, often violently, all of our efforts. About six months ago, I let him go and stopped trying to help him. He is on disability and lives independently. This was not what I expected but I accept it now.
Hi Susan. I am so sorry for the delay in responding. I'm also sorry that events turned out this way for your family. We try to do the right things step-by-step and no matter what we do, it often doesn't evolve the way we expect.
Sadly, this is a frequent occurrence. I have family members and friends who have gone through very similar experiences. This is NOT meant to lighten the impact of this on you, but just to let you know that things like this happen no matter how hard we try, no matter how much we do, sometimes, things are out of our control.
It is okay to accept unintended consequences, but never let that little tiny ember of hope die.
My life was changed by a sweatshirt, or rather the sweatshirt I chose not to wear on a day where it changed everything. By the way, that egg graphic is just the best!
Hi Joyce, Sweatshirt story sounds intriguing. If you want to send more details, send them to substack@gabberz.com. I use some for individual stories if I can build it up. I am also building a collection of related stories to merge into a series of postings.
Thanks on the egg, definitely one of my favorites too. I used to do graphics in an earlier life and miss that creativity. Which I guess is what drew me to Substack.
This is a sad story of unexpected consequences. We had one child but, being unrepentant liberals, we wanted to adopt an older child and give them a better life. The boy we adopted was 6 and we knew going forward would not be easy, but our idealism won. He is now 43 and we gave up long ago hoping for anything other than he didn’t become homeless or in prison. In the beginning we had wonderful dreams, but because of early life abuse and neglect, he rejected, often violently, all of our efforts. About six months ago, I let him go and stopped trying to help him. He is on disability and lives independently. This was not what I expected but I accept it now.
Hi Susan. I am so sorry for the delay in responding. I'm also sorry that events turned out this way for your family. We try to do the right things step-by-step and no matter what we do, it often doesn't evolve the way we expect.
Sadly, this is a frequent occurrence. I have family members and friends who have gone through very similar experiences. This is NOT meant to lighten the impact of this on you, but just to let you know that things like this happen no matter how hard we try, no matter how much we do, sometimes, things are out of our control.
It is okay to accept unintended consequences, but never let that little tiny ember of hope die.
My life was changed by a sweatshirt, or rather the sweatshirt I chose not to wear on a day where it changed everything. By the way, that egg graphic is just the best!
Hi Joyce, Sweatshirt story sounds intriguing. If you want to send more details, send them to substack@gabberz.com. I use some for individual stories if I can build it up. I am also building a collection of related stories to merge into a series of postings.
Thanks on the egg, definitely one of my favorites too. I used to do graphics in an earlier life and miss that creativity. Which I guess is what drew me to Substack.