Empty Arms
“Please,”
she pleads on the other end of the telephone.
“Please don’t let him forget me.”
I can’t ignore the desperation, the near hopelessness in her
request. It surely follows years and
years of disappointments and frustrations, watching dreams of the future
crumble around her. It is an appeal made
from a heart of grief, knowing that she will most likely never see this child
again. It is the cry of a heart-broken
grandmother.
Parents may
make mistakes, and sometimes they do foolish things or make decisions that
affect the lives of their innocent children.
The children end up in the foster care system or being placed for
adoption, in hopes that some of the damage that has wreaked havoc on their young
lives might somehow heal. But when
children are separated from their parents, it’s not just the nuclear family
that is dramatically affected. Where does
that leave the grandparents? How do they
fit into the story?
