I Became a Mother in a Convenience Store Parking Lot
My first day as a foster parent didn’t go as planned.
I became a mother in the parking lot of a Uni Mart convenience store in Pleasant Gap, Pennsylvania. A kind of town never once a blink of promise. I imagined it an easy target for eighty dollar robberies and drug deals, only for it’s smallness and inconsequential existence.
Every mother has a story for how they earned their name. Stories highlighted by emergencies, last minute decisions, flights to exotic locations, incredible agony and strength. Holding onto those stories, I want to tell you mine.
Back to the Uni Mart, I parked my car in the corner space closest to the dumpster. I didn’t want the employees to get excited for a customer. Two empty car seats properly attached to the back seats of my Pontiac Grand Am. After a few minutes, a car pulled up beside me. Marjorie, a thirty something petite woman with blonde hair got out and began unhooking both boys from their car seats.
It was March 28th, 2008. The late winter air was cold and placid. Justin, gorgeous blonde hair and blue eyes that swallowed you into his sorrowful face. He was six weeks shy of turning three years old. He only weighed twenty one pounds. Justin didn’t smile. Marjorie handed him easily to my partner, Nate, and he carried him over to our car and put him…
