Goodbye

We had to let a little friend go today.  She just wasn't the right fit for our family, and we'd been fighting that truth for almost the whole year we'd known her.

She had a pure, sweet, but sensitive spirit, and it had been overwhelmed the last few months with change and disorder.  She relied on us always for more direction, more interaction, more order - more love, even - than we were capable of giving.

We've sent her away in the hopes that she just might find a home better suited for her and pray for forgiveness because we know the odds aren't in her favor.

We're so heartbroken we couldn't be what you needed, little one, and will forever seek to do penance for not thinking more before taking on the responsibility of you, for not working harder to make you a part of our family, for not ensuring a feeling of safety and security for you at all times, for so abruptly seeming to abandon you when what you needed most was reassurance.  We are the ones that have been wrong - this whole time.

But we couldn't bear the thought of you hurting someone else or yourself in fear and we finally had to accept that we could never be all that you needed to be happy.

And so we will carry this wagging hole in our hearts for you, girl, and feel our souls slightly more stained for having failed you.  May you find peace and quickly forget us.

We, however, will not forget you.