For Stuart, life at the shelter felt like a great weight. He had visited that place excessively and was already 13 years old. He was at last granted a permanent home after years of mistrusting others and erecting barriers around him; he never really embraced his adopted mother.
All Stuart had when he initially entered the shelter as a five-year-old lad was his ragged teddy bear, which was old and battered but provided protection from the outside world this small lad knew.
He never participated in any of the kids’ games, while the rest were happy. Rather, he was always alone himself and avoided friendships.
He seemed to come to see the seclusion as unavoidable.
Stuart saw several of the youngsters being adopted or placed in foster homes throughout the years, but he never received any inquiries. And just when he gave up hope, Jennifer paid the shelter a visit.
She could sense the suffering in his beautiful eyes devoid of the spark most kids his age experienced.
When Jennifer tried to strike up a discussion with him, Stuart turned her away and refused to talk.
She wouldn’t quit readily, though, so he questioned her why she was there and whether she shared the rest of the individuals who visit the shelter and then simply leave without looking back.
She reached out her hand to him and reassured him she would be here should he so want.
But Stuart questioned the authenticity of her words following repeated letdowns.
Jennifer said, “If you want to come home with me, I’m there.”
Looking her in the eyes, Stuart questioned, “But why do you want me? I’m a sad child, everyone says.
Jennifer felt broken by his comments.
Her words, “I want you more than anything in this world,” remarked, reflected her priorities.
After eight arduy years at the shelter, Stuart sensed a sliver of optimism. At last he was finding a place to call home, but tragically he never embraced Jennifer as his mother.
But Jennifer never gave up hope. She understood more time had to pass before Stuart’s wounds healed totally. She hoped for his little heart to begin to open. But the emotional barriers Stuart created around him only grew more robust over years. He turned down any assistance from his adopted mother and never lived near her.
Jennifer sat next to him one evening while he was working on his homework; he tossed the papers across the room, saying he could manage things on his own.
He would often tell her that he wasn’t her son and that she was simply his adopted mother, not his actual one.
Every time he said such words, a bit of her delicate heart crumbled.
Unable to embrace Jennifer’s affection, he still treated her as nothing more than a stranger after he found out she was quite sick.
Jennifer sadly died not long after learning she had cancer. Stuart stood in a corner on her funeral, quiet and devoid of tears.
Jennifer’s best friend, Carol, spotted him there and recalled Jennifer’s last wish: to enable Stuart know how much she loved him.
A few days later Carol, Stuart’s guardian, paid him a visit. Stuart, you ought to go to see your mother’s tomb. Se placed something there for you.
Intrigued, Stuart turned nearer the tomb. On the grave of his adopted mother, indeed, there was an envelop. Still with his icy attitude, he grabbed it and opened it.
Stuart finally broke in tears, though, as he opened the letter and began reading the well chosen words.
Jennifer wrote in the letter of the suffering she experienced when she left him at the shelter, pledging to come back for him when she got on her feet. She loved him even before he was born, although she battled emotionally and financially and was unable to look after him.
Stuart was absolutely devastated when he discovered Jennifer was the lady who delivered him rather than his adopted mother.
Every moment he pushed her away and denied her affection he regretted.
For anything to be changed, though, it was already late.
He visited her grave often from that point on, at last discovering the depth oh her love for him.
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