by Susan Diamond
It was a time when vividly colored dragons and beautiful fairy princesses occupied the land.
Good kings ruled their subjects fairly and evil was always soundly defeated. Little boys had their beanstalks, and geese laid golden eggs.
Poverty was common. But poor people were scrappy and their children unaffected by their circumstances, merely inconvenienced.
Wonder was all around and there was magic in the air.
Yes, it was a made-up era in a make-believe place, and one sweet soul in Brooklyn New York lived there.
Her name is Jordana. She is eleven years old. And for as long as she can remember, she has lived in a fairy tale that plays in her head.
Jordana sees nothing of the gritty reality that is her neighborhood in the borough. The pavement is not a dirty gray concrete, it is a lush green carpet, soft and squishy between her bare toes.
She skips and sings happily as she makes her way down city sidewalks, playfully stopping to admire a flowering bush or the tiny creatures scurrying about, going about their daily business.
People think she’s crazy.
Crazy in the best way possible. Jordana is pure sweetness and light with a fetching innocence that causes even the grouchiest adult to smile. Children littler than her adore her, and big kids are mesmerized by her charm.
Somehow, Jordana manages to get by without exposure to any of the ugliness of modern day life. She lives only the beauty.
Jordana is the child of a mother, bless her soul, who succumbed to the poison of drugs and alcohol. Her father is unknown. She is a ward of the state.
By the grace of God, Mary Lou Simkins is a foster mom to young Jordana and everyone will tell you, it is a match made in heaven.
Other parents would have had Jordana in and out of therapists offices, likely on meds, and definitely she would have endured (at the least) much scolding.
Not Mary Lou, she knew from the get-go, Jordana was special, God’s chosen. How many people were born with rose colored glasses for the mind, body and soul...READ MORE
