Nearing Christmas the house was ablaze with lights and overkill on decor. Our festive environment encompassing us all with hints of holiday spirit. In our tiny little house lived our ever changing and ever growing family. Four kids and mom and pops crowed in yet there was and always will be a 'vacancy' sign up.
Our weekend on call proved to bring about blessing and excitement that night with a call from the social worker. Just a short stay was what we were told. Our very first teenager! To be honest here we had full intentions of not bonding with another child so as to never feel hurt again. Yeah, that was stupid! The delivery was made and we met her at the door with shining eyes and overly large smiles, ready to love all of the pain away. We were not met with the same enthusiasm to say the least.
Our festive home with all of its Christmas cheer and outstanding decorating (if I do say so myself) did not impress  her one lick of spit. So we tried the "we are here for you and love you" speech that produced flames from her ears. Okay, we need a different approach quick but uh oh there is a problem. We are clueless!! Good on our toes we promptly faked it and pretended to know exactly how to parent a teenager. Yep, she was on to us immediately. Whew, we were only an hour or so in and this was exhausting.
Then it happened, her eyes locked with mine and she was mad, really mad. I was the lucky one who got to be the target of her fear, anger, confusion, the whole ball of wax. What an honor!  I had nothing but raw truth and transparent me to offer. I told her my story and my lack of pity for the fit she was throwing yet understood her being upset while not knowing her exact feelings. This was followed by the Neal house rules of respect and then........
SILENCE.
Deafening silence with eyes locked. This was the excitement for the following four hours. We stood two feet apart with no words, eyes glued with some sort of invisible super glue for four hours for a reason. She wanted me to quit. She knew I would, or she thought I would. Not this mama! My heart said all it needed to say in that silence. You are worth it and I care. Finally she looked away and went to her room. Exhaustion set in as I sat down and I wept for this child whom I now loved. Darn it, we weren't going to bond!
Nearly a year of a magnificent roller coaster ride with her ended and she went back home.
There were food fights and laughter so hard we could barely breathe, screaming so loud our ears felt as if they would burst, silly faces every morning, running away, coffee always on for the officers that even fell in love with her, her practical jokes on dad, and endless more memories made. We missed our little ball of spunk.
I am happy to say that that little ball of spunk is now a grown up ball of spunk with determination and yes still spunk! She is a gem and we are so grateful that we got to fill in for a bit.