Hi, this is Bree again. You guys are going to be sick of hearing from me. I'm doing another entry for a couple of reasons. For one thing, this is an intro for my sister Fiona, and I'm the only one who has actually met her. For another... I like blogging. It's relaxing. ;-)
For those who don't know my whole story, Fiona is my biological sister, but we didn't live in the same home very much because our parents split up. Eventually Fiona ended up in foster care because my mother wasn't doing a good job looking after her and didn't keep her safe. Since then I've gotten to visit her once and talked to her on the phone a few times.
When plans were first made for me to move here, Blakeney didn't even know that Fiona existed, because she was born after our families lost contact. Once I told her about Fiona, she said she would try to get custody of her too. Social services agreed. A couple of days ago, we were notified that Fiona will be placed here within the next couple of weeks. (Government bureaucracy stuff is always slow, though, especially between countries.) I'm really excited... but I'm nervous, too. What if she doesn't like me anymore? Am I a bad sister for not knowing her better than I do?
Here's what I do know: She's a great kid. She likes playing with dolls and stuffed animals, and jumping rope. Her favorite thing on the school playground is the jungle gym. Fiona likes to sing, and she's always the star of her school plays, unlike her stage-shy older sister. She's really smart and a lot of fun to be around.
Fiona has some problems, too. It's harder to talk about the bad stuff than the good stuff, but I'm sure it'll come up at some point and we don't want anyone to be surprised. She has biopolar disorder, like our mom. She takes medication but sometimes she still has trouble. Fiona has also been through some pretty tough situations - especially for her age - so she acts out sometimes.
I hope she'll do OK here. I hope the other girls will like her. I hope all my sisters - adopted and biological - can be one big family. I don't have that long to wait, now...
Love,
Bree
Salut, Bree!
ReplyDeleteI'm sure your sister is looking forward to seeing you. She sounds like a great kid, and she has a great big sister as well. :)
I can somewhat relate to your feelings; my sister has antisocial personality disorder, which greatly explains her personality. I do my best to help her, which is sometimes hard since she's so irrational and caught up in what she wants...
Sabine
Thanks, Sabine. She really IS a great kid! :-)
ReplyDeleteI want to make sure people know that, rather than being scared off by her mental health diagnosis. She's so much more than just a disorder.
It can be tough sometimes, though. I'm sure you know that too because of your sister. Sometimes there's no way to help. I love her no matter what, though.
I hope the rest of my adoptive sisters will too. They're all sure that they will.
-Bree
Hi Bree,
ReplyDeleteI just have to say I feel like I can relate to you guys a lot since I had a pretty messed up childhood myself. We had to move a lot and my parents had a pretty abusive relationship at times. Several of my sisters are still suffering. It's been nice to know there are other girls out there that don't have perfect lives either. I bet your sister has never even though about not liking you anymore. A sisterly bound can't be broken once you've experienced tragedy together.
Emily
Hi Bree, I don't have any sisters, but your sister sounds great. I think it's great that you are posting about her and that you want people to see beyond her bipolar disorder. I've never had a mental health disorder, but I have had some health problems and I can relate to people just seeing you as your disease. That's why I don't tend to talk about it much. I want people to know me for my skating or something like that ;)
ReplyDeleteWhat? Oh, Sam just said something that it's like people just knowing you because you are a princess. Sam, I don't think being a princess is really a hardship. LOL.
Anyway... I am sure your sister will be excited to see you. At least I would be really happy if I got separated from my family and one of my family members was able to get us back together.
Cate
Emily - Sorry to hear your family had problems. I hope your other sisters can get out of that situation soon too. It's hard when you know bad things are going on but there's nothing you can do.
ReplyDeleteIt's one of the toughest things about being a teen, for me. It seems like adults get all the choices, and a lot of times they make bad ones.
All of the girls in our family have been through some hard stuff. (That's why they live here rather than in their original families.) It helps to be able to share stuff.
That's a good thing about the blog, too. We can connect with friends who can relate... friends like you! Thanks for commenting.
Cate - Thanks for your comment, too. Physical and mental health are different in a way, but I'm sure you can understand about this, too. Sorry to hear you were so sick.
I hope you're right and Fiona will be excited. I sure am!
Love,
Bree
Oh no, I didn't mean to imply that the stigmas associated with mental and physical illnesses are the same. I just meant that I understand negative labelling and it is no fun, no matter what it's about :)
ReplyDeleteYeah, I think we're on the same page, Cate. ;-)
ReplyDeleteWhat I think we're both trying to get at is that there are both similarities and differences. I would definitely agree about that.
-Bree