Bree's First Post

Hi, this is Bree, posting for the first time. I'm not actually at my new home yet. I'm at an internet cafe near the train station in Winnipeg. So... still pretty far from my destination, but I'm getting there.

I'm not really sure what to say about myself that would be interesting. The girls say they're going to "interview" me for the blog when I get there, so I guess I'll save the main intro stuff for that.

You're probably wondering what my deal is, though. What kind of person just disappears? Bree must be a big flake.

Well... not entirely. I'm not that big. ;-) Maybe I'm a flake, but that wasn't what was going on here. Like the other girls said, I didn't know anyone was trying to find me. What they didn't say is where I actually was. It's not their fault; it's because I didn't actually tell them until today.

For the past few months, I've pretty much been crashing on various people's couches. Things weren't good with either of my parents, and obviously they weren't deeply concerned about where I was. I didn't think it mattered that I didn't exactly have a forwarding address.

While I was moving around, I got some news. When I was younger, my parents had another kid that my mom kept when she split with my dad. My younger sister. At some point, my sister wasn't living with my mom anymore. I knew she was a foster kid, but nothing more than that, nothing about where she was, so I didn't think I'd ever see her again.

Then one day I was at a friend's house flipping through channels, and they were doing a news story about states with the best and worst foster care outcomes. They did a few background pans of rooms full of kids... and I saw my sister!

I took off pretty fast.

So that's where I was. Visiting my sister. A sister the Green Girls didn't know I had, because our families haven't been in touch in the meantime. I know, I'm fifteen, and someone should know where I am. I'm not trying to make an excuse. I'm not going to just go off on my own again, now that I have a family who actually cares.

I just wanted you to know I had a good reason for what I did, though, since it was probably a mystery when you couldn't see it from my point of view. Next time I write for the blog, I'll try not to be so serious!

Your friend,
Bree (the new Green)