The family and I became very close and I try to go back to visit them as often as I can, but it had been almost two years ago since I saw them last. Before I left the last time the youngest of the four children was shorter than my shoulders. Now, two years later, both younger children are well over a head taller than me. For the first time I could no longer tell my host mom Karen that I will take the “small kids” (referring to both their size and their age) for ice cream.
In the time since I last saw them, the kids had swapped their favorite Mountain Dew soft drink for coffee and traded riding Ripsticks for cars. The funny thing is that despite all these changes, seeing my family again was as if no time passed. We picked up right where we left off. The sweet greeting extended to the always happy but now also much older dog. The black Labrador had a matching set of white gray hair to the white beard around his mouth.
As soon as I walk up
the driveway I know it’s only seconds until I have my American family back in
my arms. That feeling of having a second family makes me feel so rich, having a
family that loves me, open up their house and who welcomes me to stay there as
long as I want.
I feel truly blessed
to have found my second family in the USA.
