I knew that loving words alone could never fully erase the trauma of having your place in the family questioned by the very people who were supposed to protect you.

But as I watched him standing by the car door, tapping his foot impatiently and grinning from ear to ear while he waited for his mom, I noticed the most beautiful detail of all.

He wasn’t carrying a school backpack full of emergency survival rules.

He wasn’t anxiously watching the street corner for a blue car from Columbus turning into our neighborhood to take him away.

He wasn’t checking his watch to count how many days or hours of safety he had left before his time in our home ran out.

He was just standing in the sunshine, completely at peace, waiting for his mom to unlock the car and take him out into the world.

And on that beautiful, golden afternoon, that was more than enough for both of us.

The End.