Court House Babe

Phone Calls, APN, and New Beginnings

    After the Jake incident, my Caleb called my dad and told him where we were and to come and get us. I remember the day like it was yesterday. You never forget being taken away from somewhere. I had just finished giving my stuffed ducky a bath and was working on blow drying it when my Caleb walked in. He said daddy was here to see us and that I needed to go outside and say hi. I said, "Let me finish drying my ducky and I'll go." Instead of saying anything he just grabbed my arm and dragged Keira and I outside.

    When I got outside all thoughts of my ducky disappeared when I saw my dad. I had missed him so much. I ran up to him, hugging him and balling my eyes out that he was here and hadn't forgotten that we existed. Caleb and my dad opened the truck doors and told us to go in the back seat because there were presents for us. As Keira and I climbed in the backseat my brother and dad jumped in effectively blocking our way out of the truck. My sister and I started crying and screaming for our mom when he started the truck.

    My mom in her not so hot state came running out of the trailer home yelling at my dad. My dad rolled the window down. She was shouting how he couldn't just take us away from her and that they needed their mother. He told her to back away from the truck or he'd call the cops and have her arrested for child endangerment. She backed off unwillingly knowing if the cops got involved that she would be arrested for a while. 

    For a while after my dad took us from my mom I wouldn't talk to my dad. I couldn't understand why he did what he did. My dad took my mom to court to gain full custody of Caleb, Keira and I. He won, the judge didn't even need to think about it. A couple months after gaining custody of us my dad told us that we visit my mom, but at a place called APN.

    APN was this place for families going through divorce or who were already divorced but didn't share custody. When we saw my mom, the visits were supervised. Anything and everything we said, was written down to ensure that nothing was being planned. Our visits were two hours and my mom was never on time. Once she didn't show up at all and if she did we weren't there. After and hour of waiting my dad took us out for ice cream to cheer us up. Living with my dad was a breath of fresh air. 

    I always felt safe, I didn't worry about what new strangers were going to be there, I didn't need to worry if I was going to get a meal or if I was going to get only a slice of cheese. I had three full meals a day and as many snacks as I wanted in between. Anyone who came over was a long time family friend, never a stranger. Caleb, Keira, and I went from being able to see the outline and white of our ribs to being chubby and slightly over weight. We were no longer getting sick all the time because of poor immune systems. We grew strong and healthy, we started to live instead of just barely surviving. It was about time we got a new beginning.