Ten years later...

“Daddy, I’m scared!” Cara squeals and tucks her blonde curls into David’s side as the Ferris wheel reaches its apex.

“It’s okay, Cara,” her older brother, Sam, soothes, his blue eyes full of concern. “Mom and Dad would never let us get hurt.”

I beam at our adopted children, Cara and Sam. We adopted them two years ago, their mother having passed from a crash with a drunk driver and no family to take them in. When I passed the bar four years ago, I never imagined becoming a parent. Hell, I never imagined becoming a parent ever! But when Cara and Sam’s file came across my desk, I became bizarrely fixated. Okay, bizarre might be a bit dramatic, but I still fixated on them for whatever reason. We petitioned to take in the then three- and five-year-old siblings and were granted foster parent status, and six months later, we applied to become their adoptive parents with success.

My legal work in the foster system focusing on children with parents who battle addiction has been the most rewarding I could have imagined. Frankly, it was Dad’s idea I work in that area noting that I have a unique experience. So, while preparing for my pre-law requirements, I earned a degree in social work. My law degree focused on family law.

“Cara,” David crooned, pulling the timid five-year-old into his lap. “Look! You can see Daddy’s office from here.”

Her head pops up, but she still clutches at David’s arm like a life preserver. David points out the Waterston Building, then his hand drifts toward the shore. “And that building there with the golden windows? That’s where Mommy and I lived before moving to Evanston.”

“Lucky,” Sam huffed. “I’d love to live in the city. And to see the ocean all the time.”

“Not the ocean,” I correct Sam. “That’s Lake Michigan.”

“Yeah, I know,” he says with a shrug. “I’d really like to live on the ocean, though,” he adds.

I’m not surprised since Sam decided to decorate his bedroom with a surfer theme. His mother used to be an aspiring competitive surfer until she became pregnant with him. He saw many photos of his mother with her board all over their home, and he has several hanging in his room. That he ever called David and me ‘Dad’ and ‘Mom’ blew me away—not that it was immediate. It took more than a year.

Finally, Cara relaxed and started to enjoy the view.

I smile as our perfect day continues. The day started out with Sam and Cara making me breakfast in bed—cinnamon sugar toast with strawberries on the side, a cup of coffee perfectly mixed, and a glass of orange juice.

“Happy Birthday, Mommy!” they sang as they walked in, David charged with carrying the tray.

“For me?” I ask sitting up in the bed, feigning surprise. On a typical workday, I’m up three-and-a-half hours ago, but David put me on alert that our darlings wanted a special day for me and how could I tell them no? I couldn’t. So, I took a personal day and let David call them out of school.

After breakfast, the kids brought me to the aquarium, a favorite for all four of us. Next was lunch at the Pier along with remote control boat races and all sorts of fun in the Funhouse Maze. It took some cajoling to get Cara on the Ferris wheel. For the past two years she's fought it. Finally, Sam convinced her, and I’m so relieved that she finally found fun with it.

“What next?” I ask as it neared dinner time.

“Dinner at The Signature Room!” Cara says. We’ve brought Sam and Cara there since the very beginning. They loved being treated like young adults and were very adventuresome with trying new foods. “And I have a new dress, too!”

“Oh, my favorite place!” I say joining in. “And I can't wait to see your new dress!” I reply. I love that she’s having as much fun on my birthday as I am.

As we head home to get cleaned up and ready for dinner, we pass a convenience store with a line out the door.

“What’s going on there?” Sam asks.

“Must be for lottery tickets,” David answers. “The jackpot must be pretty high for such a line.”

“I think it's over five-hundred million,” I chime in recalling hearing something about the office chipping in to buy some tickets.

“Whoa,” Sam gasps, his blue eyes as wide as I've ever seen them. “Could you imagine winning the lottery? That would be the best thing ever! If I won the lottery, I wouldn't need anything else.”

I look at David who smiles and holds in his laughter, then at my two darlings buckled into the backseat. I think of Jimmy. I think about how good my mom is doing. And Jude. True, a part of it was my winning the lottery to get here, but somehow, I have a feeling I would have found this life anyway.

“I think there are better things than winning the lottery.”

The End