Take A Step Into The Shoes Of Someone Else

If yesterday betrayed you move forward with today

As a child, I loved the shoe commercial that said, “Bata put yourself in all shoes.” However, growing up in a foster home with many unanswered questions made it impossible to put me in anyone’s shoes.

My life as I knew it was about what people said about me. I repeated their words. The lyrics were always the same: The poor child’s mother died, and her father was unreachable. The girl has no one.

The dress I wore when I arrived at my foster home was a constant reminder of my past. The dress was my least favorite attire. I imagined it belonged to a doll. I threw it into the river one day, hoping to let go of that past.

Years later, I learned that my father had passed away. I wept for a man I barely knew. At work, my coworkers handed me a signed bereavement card. I thought it was another chapter in my life that had closed.

An additional ten years later, someone showed me a picture of a man and asked if I recognized him. The shock of the true father brings no joy. It felt okay for him to remain unreachable. Why were certain things in my past kept a secret? I…