While I was a baby I stayed with my Tia Armida. My mother has passed away already, due to unknown causes. My father was in jail, due to a conviction of murder. Yes, it was thought that my father killed my mother. (He, later, was let go of without any repercussions and it is still a mystery as to what really happened.) Now, Tia Armida was a legitimate child. Her father was a lawyer. She stayed with her father in a small dwelling. The small rooms where behind the law offices of her father. She had 7 children, plus myself, that she cared for by herself. She didn't have much especially with so many kids and not enough money.
Now there was a Peace Corps volunteer named Jeff who lived there in the law office during the week. Tia Armida's father was an Attorney who lived there only on weekends. However small it was, it did have a courtyard, and of course a kitchen, while everyone slept in the same room.
Heather cut hair and used to cut Jeff's hair. So Heather used to stop by and cut everyone's hair. One day Tia Armida wanted Heather to cut some of the boys' hair. She did and she also cut my hair. At that time I was 1 years old and really malnourished. At one and a half years old I looked like I was 7 months. I had long hair and was a tiny baby. I was malnourished from food and human interaction. My cousin Ivis and I would stay in a baby play pen. We would both go hungry, wanting attention. Ivis received more attention because that was his mother, and also, because I did have my mother to breastfeed me. I would be fed like everyone else who was older.
Anyways, I was happy to be held when Heather cut my hair. I had temper tantrums and screamed when she put me down. She would cut everyone's hair again. Heather was really touched by me. During the times that she would visit she learned about the story of how I got there. The story goes that my mother died, due to unknown causes. My father was in jail, due to being convicted of murder. Yes, it was thought that my father killed my mother. (He, later, was let go of without any repercussions and it's still a mystery as to what really happened.) Then my Tia Armida brought me up.
One day the whole family was gonna go cut and get coffee. They were gonna work in a finca. They were going to be gone for 2-3 months. Heather asked what they would do with me since I was too small to work. In Honduras, once you're able to walk and work you're taken to the fincas to work in order to bring money into a household. Tia Armida said she was going to leave me behind a tree and my cousin Salvador would check on me, at the end of the working day and would take me back with everyone else. I had a 5 year old babysitter. Heather didn't like that idea and suggested that she could take care of me. One thing about my Tia Armida is that she is family oriented and didn't want to give any of her kids up. She would fight to the death for any and all her kids, including me. However, Heather comforted her and persuaded her to allow her to take me. I, then, went to live with Heather.
With Heather I learned how to walk, spoke my first words, and made an impact on her. (During this time my Aunt Megan came to visit and saw me. Others would later come visit.) When Tia Armida came back Heather said she wanted to adopt me. Heather tried to convince my Tia Armida to go through with the paperwork. My Tia Armida finally came around. My newly (adopted) mother began the process of adoption then and there. She set off to do the legal paperwork and make sure that I was in her hands and never letting go. And that's just the beginning of the great adventures I had with my adopted mother in being fully adopted.
