Foster care memories

After I had surgery on my right arm the doctor told me and my foster parents that he didn’t know if I would be able to move my arm enough to be mobile and that if I wanted to use it I would need to start exercising it. He gave my foster dad a long list of things I could do to strengthen my arm. Right away my foster dad got started working with me. At the hospital there was a small hill and I would have to get dirt into a bucket, carry it up the stairs and dump it down the embankment. It was hard work, I really HATED it. I had to do it for my arm but I hated it. That night we went running along the wash. It helped because I was moving my arm. When I went to bed that night I was TIRED!

I remember my foster dad that I was living with at the time was really tall with red hair. He liked pussy willows and every time we would go running along the wash, he would go down and grab some, cut them off and put them in a vase. We would also go pollywog hunting. He was really nice. He was very outgoing and athletic. He would take me swimming and tried to get me into swimming lessons. I tried them but it was too hard for me because of my arm. I remember jumping off the diving boards and I would always land on my stomach. It really hurt. He was always there to help me.

There were several nights that my foster dad would read me bed time stories in the living room and I would sit next to him. I remember he would always have hot chocolate for me to drink as he read me stories. I really enjoyed that.

Mr. Roblie was a social worker. Really nice. Sometimes he would pick me up and take me to see my mother. (He let me drive on the freeway)

I remember being in this one foster home and going to the Zoo. It was a really hot day and they wanted to take a picture on a statue. I remember the statue was really hot and I kept crying trying to get down and they kept putting me up there and got upset with me. I kept saying it was hot but they were in a way laughing at me. They though it wasn’t hot. They had these big turtles that you could ride that I really liked.