“Now you’re mine, my Melody,” she told me as I was getting ready for the dinner. “I’ve always loved you since you were a baby.
You were the reason that Rob and I even wanted kids. But when you moved in with us, I realized that it wasn’t about being a mother to anyone else… it was about being a mother to you.”
“No, don’t cry, sweet girl,” she said, rubbing my back.
“Let’s go have your birthday dinner.”
And do you know what?
My parents didn’t even show up. They also didn’t object to Rob and Lisa adopting me formally. It was as if they had already relinquished their parental rights years earlier, to make things easier for them and Chloe’s career.
Now, I’m twenty-two, and I hadn’t seen my parents once in the past nine years.
I’m working in IT, and I’m thriving. It was during high school when I realized that I was a whiz at IT.
“If it’s your calling, then it’s your calling, Mel,” Rob had said over dinner one night. I was still in high school and it had been the day of our parent-teacher meeting.
My computer teacher had gone on about my “skills.”
I was silent for a moment, unsure. I cut into my piece of chicken and thought about it.
“I think so,” I said. “Would that be okay?
Is college on the table?”
“Is college on the table?” Rob asked, amused. “Of course, it is, Mel! We’ve always told you, you’re our own.
And we’re going to pave the way for your future, songbird.”
Hearing that made my heart swell. Over the years, my uncle Rob had taken to calling me names that related or reminded him of my name. “Songbird” had to have been my favorite.
They supported me, loved me, and never ever gave up on me.
Then, a few months ago, Chloe’s career ended abruptly. She suffered a serious accident during training, breaking her leg and arm.
It was the kind of injury that you don’t come back from, at least not at the elite level. After she recovered, Chloe’s best chance would probably be with her becoming a coach.
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