Parents Without a Child

Vanessa slipped quietly out of bed, trying not to wake her mate, and hopped into the shower. She hummed softly and smiled as she shampooed her hair, excited about the day’s events. She’d been exhausting all her efforts on a project at work that would determine whether she gets a promotion that has been right out of arms reach since she moved to Arkansas a year ago. The past few months had been very stressful, but today was the final presentation and she was ready. Today is going to be a marvelous day.

After throwing on her robe and slippers, Vanessa entered her daughter’s bedroom and watched her breathing lightly in her sleep. She silently wondered to herself how she could have been so lucky to be blessed with such a beautiful and smart little girl. Amira was at the top of her classes and so very pleasant, all of the time. Intelligent beyond her years, Vanessa couldn’t have asked for a better child. Although she wasn’t Amira’s birth mother, she felt a connection to Amira as if she was her own and wouldn’t change the situation for anything in the world.

Vanessa decided to let her angel sleep a few more moments and went to the kitchen to start breakfast. Opening the refrigerator, she decided today was the perfect day for heart shaped pancakes topped with strawberry glaze and whipped cream, scrambled eggs with cheese and sausage links. It was a breakfast sure to make her daughter happy and that’s all she ever wanted to do.

Once breakfast was complete, Vanessa walked back into her daughter’s room and sat down next her. “Wake up, sleepy head.” Amira’s long lashes fluttered as she squinted to adjust her eyes to the sunlight streaming through her mini-blinds. She reached her arms up to her mother and gave her a big morning hug. “Good morning, Mommy V,” she said in a voice so cheerful you couldn’t believe she had just woken up. “I’m hungry!”

Amira swung her feet over the side of her bed and into her Barbie slippers. She stretched her long arms above her head and a huge smile spread across her face as she smelled the scent of breakfast drifting through the house and into her bedroom. She rushed off to the kitchen and started piling pancakes and eggs onto her plate. Vanessa was so amused at how independent the child was and often wondered how much her young eyes had seen in the many foster homes that had hosted her over the six years before Vanessa and Taylor had adopted her.

Amira’s father, Eddie Phillips, had lost his job just a short while after his wife had given birth to their daughter. He tried very hard to find work but he wasn’t able to financially support his growing family and he fell in with a bad crowd. When Amira was three, a known thug Eddie owed several thousand dollars to, demanded payment. When Eddie was unable to make good on the loans, both of her parents lost their lives but Amira’s life was spared. Neither of her parents had living relatives so she was put into the foster care system where she spent the next six years of her life traveling from one home to another. Vanessa always wondered how they treated her and whether or not they loved her. Amira never really spoke much about the previous homes, but sometimes, Vanessa sensed pain behind her gray eyes and prayed that all those awful memories were being replaced with the love and happiness that she and Taylor provided for her now.

Taylor popped into Amira’s room while Vanessa brushed their daughter’s thick curly hair and gave them big hugs before heading off to work. The morning commute was about an hour and after eating a large breakfast, Taylor was running a little behind and in a rush to get moving. Oh well, thought Vanessa, we shall all catch up at dinner. Maybe we should go out tonight to celebrate the end of my project and talk to Amira about having a brother or sister, Vanessa thought to herself. Oh, it was going to be a marvelous day!

Vanessa watched Amira climb aboard the bus and waved to her once she found a seat near the middle. As the bus pulled away, Vanessa sighed to herself and closed the front door of their beautiful home, a home purchased with the understanding of adopting at least two children to make it complete. She glanced around the room at the photos hanging carefully on the walls. Photos of both Vanessa and Taylor’s families and friends were displayed everywhere to remind them how much love they had received in their lives. All the affection their loved ones had given to them growing up served as a guide on how to give love to Amira.

“Vanessa!” Taylor had been calling to her girlfriend for a few minutes and finally was able to pull her out of the daydream. “Vanessa, we will find a way, I promise you, we will find a way.” Taylor gently guided Vanessa to lay the newspaper down, the evil newspaper that reinforced the reality of the Arkansas Unmarried Couples Adoption Ban of 2008. It just wasn’t fair, Vanessa thought to herself. She and Taylor would make the perfect parents. They both had great jobs, a loving home and were fully stable. They had been together for nine solid years yet, that was not enough. The citizens of Arkansas had passed the law declaring it illegal for unmarried couples to adopt and since same sex couples couldn’t be married, Vanessa and Taylor would not be able to adopt that beautiful girl temporarily living in the home of their neighbor.

Not only are babies, children and teenagers being denied permanent homes, laws are also denying two wonderful people the chance to raise children. With thousands of children across America waiting for someone to love them, why are citizens of Florida, Utah, Mississippi and now, Arkansas, choosing to keep these children from being adopted because the couple happens to be non-traditional? How many of those people who voted in favor of this proposition are going to open their home to little girls like Amira since they’ve now decided Vanessa and Taylor just aren’t worthy enough?

(This is was my Argumentative Essay for English Comp I. - I scored 146/150)