11/29/2025
“Alex fit better with a normal family,” the caseworker said when he first saw my parents. Rowan and Mira tried for a baby for ten years. Doctors told them it wasn’t safe. So they went to the community shelter and read to kids every week. They didn’t push. They didn’t perform. They just kept showing up. I was eight. Four years in foster care. Grandma raised me first. After she passed, I moved around with a trash bag of clothes and a shoebox with her picture. I met them during reading hour. Rowan held the book steady. Mira asked if I wanted the same story again. I said yes every time. They tried to adopt me three times. Each time someone said they weren’t “the right match.” They just came back, signed more papers, and stayed close. One September, the call finally came. They picked me up after school and said, “Let’s go home.” I took every chance they handed me—tutors, summer programs, hard classes. Twenty years later, I walked into the ER as Dr. Carter, because they never let go. 📸
