This “Modern Love” essay by Paula McLain! Who grew up in foster care in Fresno, California, a detail I’d somehow missed. This insight into the mind of the child who is abandoned–the fears and trauma that follow–could only have been written by someone who lived and survived it. McLain’s experience is her own, but the themes she explores may resonate for others.
Wow.
From her essay:
A skinny, curly-haired, quiet girl, I had already learned to read grown-ups like maps of difficult terrain and to bend myself into whatever kind of child they seemed to want. This was my job, to watch and to please, so I wouldn’t be given away again. Because I had learned that as bad as any situation was, it could always be worse.