Mona Moves On

Mona’s county worker has located a bed for her in a local group home. I am sad Mona is leaving, I will miss her energy. Mona’s happiness and anticipation of her new home is a relief. She will move in three weeks. Her new room will be much larger and there are goats and chickens. Three weeks pass quickly, I have time to prepare her things and I pack her favorite blanket and pillow. Mona has collected many toys and the social worker cannot carry all of her possessions. I offer to bring the rest of Mona’s things as soon as I am able to visit her. Since we have been notified there is a new home for Mona, there has been no more harassment of Ivy. By the time I can take Mona’s things to her, Ivy and Lea want to come. It is OK with the group home that I bring Ivy and Lea.

I want Mona to remember good things about us. We went camping, celebrated Christmas and Easter and carved beautiful pumpkins among other things. I hope she remembers the night I climbed on her top bunk and tickled her. Mona and I bonded. We did not become a permanent family but I did put some worthy bricks in her foundation and leaving on a pleasant and happy note is what is best for all of us.

Mona takes us on a tour. She has lost weight, a good thing, and is on some fairly potent medications because she has been diagnosed with a mental illness. I am not surprised. She shows us a little barn and pen with chickens and goats. Mona is very proud that soon, after good behavior, she will help care for the chickens and goats. Since she has lost weight, she asks for these pants she outgrew. She thinks she can fit into these pants now that she has lost weight. These were flare leg pants with velvet gores in the flares and flowers sewn into the tops of the flares. I remember when I bought them she said: “I love these pants, whenever I wear them; everyone wants to sit next to me.” I have to tell her that I gave the pants away.

There are huge expanses of pavement and she can ride her bike many places on the campus. We go to her room, a large room with two beds and a tile floor. There are two closets with padlocks. Mona says she has to ask a counselor to unlock her closet and get her toys and sometimes it takes a long time. Lea and Ivy are impressed and polite; we see the “discipline room,” a room with wired glass walls and mattresses on the floor. The big girls ask her if she ever goes to the “discipline room.” “Not too much,” Mona replies. I believe Mona is getting good care and I feel a little vindicated that I wasn’t able to provide a permanent placement for her. We leave and promise to return when she is allowed another visit. I know that Ivy and Lea are happier that Mona has moved and they came to visit because they are nosy, but I am proud of them just the same.

Between Mona’s moving and Shari giving birth, I have four more foster daughters who come and go for different reasons.