Jake

We had a special day yesterday. We had a visit with Jake "on purpose." (We saw him "by accident" at the bowling alley in March.) The last time that happened was April 2007.

For those of you who don't know, Jake is Onna's dad's older son from a previous relationship. During the time that her dad and I were together, her dad had custody of him. So that put me in the "mom" role. His biological mom LOVES him dearly and has a close relationship with him, but is just not able to do that daily work of raise a child. I GLADLY filled that role for three years. One of the reasons that I stayed with Onna's dad (longer than I should have) was because of Jake. Leaving him was the hardest thing I've EVER DONE. The morning that I left, I'd made arrangements with the school to make sure he would be taken care of. He was screaming at the door as a walked away. That tore my heart out.

Now he lives with Onna's dad's parents. We don't get along so they don't let me see him. They don't see Onna either because they haven't asked to. In my opinion, I think that's best. She has my family who loves her dearly and she doesn't lack for anything. But she does miss her brother.

Last week I got a call from Jake's mom. We always got along really well. She said that Jake missed Onna. She has him for visitation on Wednesdays and was wondering if I'd bring Onna to Madison to see him. I changed my work schedule around a little bit, and took her over.

She was really excited to see him, but kind of nervous. She was NOT going to pose for pictures so I got one picture.
I cropped this so you can see it a little better. As much as I hate to admit it. I see some family resemblance there. He wanted SO bad for her to sit in his lap. Then he tried to put his arm around her, and she stepped away. Sorry Jake this is as good as it gets. She wanted to PLAY!
He did awesome with her. He spent the whole time recording her with his cell phone (he's 11!). She spent most of the time playing with the smaller kids in PlayLand. When it came time to go home, Onna was getting tired and cranky. I felt bad for Jake because I think he realized that this doesn't happen very often. He was trying to be "tough" but I could see him fighting tears. I told Onna he was leaving and she just hollered over her shoulder "see ya!" He gave me a hug and then left pretty quickly.

He has my number now and I told him he could call me. I feel bad that he's been through so much, I did as much as I could do.