Some days are harder than others. Much harder.

Countless children have come through her doors holding the same unanswered questions and clutching to a flicker of hope.
Why? Why is their story filled with broken promises and abandonment and pain? Without ever speaking it she can see it, in fact she can feel it. She too, held the smallest grain of hope for fifteen years that her father would return, fight for her. There was no fighting for her, no moving Heaven and Earth to be with her. There was emptiness and pain and unanswered questions.


Today is Father's Day and it holds a myriad of emotions. At the core of who she is she hurts however, that hurt is enveloped in sweet gratitude.
She watches the men in her life that, even on a bad day, move Heaven and Earth to be present dads. She sees their hurt when their children hurt, their joy when the smallest of triumphs occur. She wonders just as the children who have entered her home, why was her story written so painfully different.
Hurtful words spoken in past fight their way to the surface of her memory. Oh what she would give to simply erase the memory of those stabbing words, and yet they stick like glue. Her heart begs answers to what she knows will never be given.

Jerking her thoughts back, reigning them in she rests in a memory of six little darlings that came to call. Not by choice, they entered her home and not by choice they left. Their short stay changed her for the better. In their eyes each held their own deep pain and even deeper strength. Never was there a more sweet and spicy bunch. With each hand held and prayer said she loved them and learned from them. Humbled by their hope for a different ending to their stories she knew her life was enriched by their presence.
Some days she finds herself praying through each of the gems that visited name by name and story by story. Sometimes she gets angry at the unfairness, sometimes filled with hope, sometimes laughter sets in as silly memories are sparked. Nonetheless she prays for their "why" to find peace.

Days that are harder than others make us stronger and painfully mold us into the ongoing work of art we are.