There is a little boy who is usually my best friend, but also sometimes my worst enemy.

This same little boy was her best friend, and the love of her life.

Ryan and I took the kids early Saturday morning to the mall.

I just had to get in on the Bath and Body Works $8.50 candle sale (got 4, thanks for asking!).

Amiya was in the Ergo, Isaiah was in the stroller, and Ryan was in the family potty room with Samarah (our final desperate attempts for potty training – another post).

Isaiah had just gotten done sneaking my coffee (decaf!) out of the stroller pocket and sipping away when I wheeled him to the back of the store so I could wait for Ryan to take he and Samarah to play while I finished. 

While back there, she approached me.

“Hi, excuse me. Do you remember me?” She said.

“No, sorry,” I replied.

(But this happens to me all the time with people I have met over and over, so I was embarrassed for myself, thinking I should know who she was.)

Her eyes seemingly glossy, slightly teary.

Is this Taylor? I’m Elisabeth….who made you the book.

(“Taylor” is what she knew him by because that was his birth name, we kept it as his middle name.)

I hugged her immediately.

And thanked her profusely for the letter and album.

I told her I wanted to cry…..my heart was bursting with emotion in those moments because I always wondered who she was, what she looked like and most importantly how her heart had healed during this past year.

Ryan and Samarah were there just a few moments later, and so Isaiah was wiggly and had one thing on his mind – getting down to run and push the stroller.

So I quickly said, “Would you like a picture with him?“

(See the end of this post for that exact picture.)

She was overjoyed at the thought.

I snapped a few, and later she posted it on her Instagram (after texting me to ask permission).

Isaiah wanted to be set free, so we set him free, and then I asked her if she’d like to get together in January to play and spend some time together.

She said, “Of course.” 

I gave her my number, and we parted ways.

A Little Boy

Do you guys believe that things happen on accident?

I don’t.

Not even a little bit. 

Every single thing in life happens for a reason, though I’m not quite sure what this one is yet. 

What I do know is that seeing this little boy we named Isaiah made her heart so full. 

Elisabeth is not his birth mom, and yet she spent most days with him from the beginning. 

So many people believe that children from the foster care system are not adequately loved.

And because of people like Elisabeth, and the other woman who held Amiya’s heart, I can say, without a doubt, that the other side shows there is a lot of love…perhaps they are just the lucky ones. 

I have thought about her letter and the album she made us so many times during this (almost) past year.

What she did was, quite honestly, something I would never have been able to do for someone who was taking the love of my life away.

But making it was for him because she loved him, and we will keep it for Isaiah forever.

Before bed last night, I pulled up one of his Christmas pictures to put in this post so Elisabeth could see it, and so that I would be reminded that there is a little boy named Isaiah who is really loved and totally special. (Yes, even when he makes me want to rip my hair out approximately 3,567 times per day!)

p.s. This post was originally posted on December 6, 2016 via my business website, A Gutsy Girl. I’m still in the process of moving all those personal posts over here (or saving them for my book!). Anyways, today is December 3, 2024. We are 8 years removed from that day. Isaiah is now 9. And every single year, Elisabeth reminds me of this day. Consequently leading to a new flood of tears and emotions. Today she posted the exact picture I took of the two of them, on that day, December 3, 2016. And we still love her as much as we did 8 years ago.

Xox,
SKH