This may seem like a sad story for the faint of heart, but I assure you that when I wrote this I was smiling realizing that life has always wonderful outcomes.

 

Let me begin to describe what I felt when I lost my parents...

 

I remember my mom's face, smiling and kissing my eyelids as she buckled me in the back seat of the car. Beside me was my baby sister who had already fallen asleep, all wrapped up in her favorite blanket and fastened to her baby seat.

 

I just remember how the wind played with my mom's auburn hair as she had the door open while my dad was getting the luggage into the trunk of the car.

 

That smile my mom gave me before closing the door has been with me forever till this day. It is how I remember her.

 

I remember the rain falling on the roof of the car which as soon as we got on the freeway put me completely to sleep.

 

The rest it is all a blur, I remember lights and rain on my face, my body was cold and all I could see were just strange faces around me. Then it all went dark and I woke up in a bright room surrounded by very noisy machines including one that was attached to my mouth.

 

A nurse with the most incredible green eyes came to help me remove this device from my mouth and as scared as I was, somehow I did not cry or speak a word. I could feel these cold drops in my arm that made my entire body feel as if I was sleeping on the snow, and I just could not keep my eyes open.

 

However every time I would close my eyes, I would only see my mother’s smile and that made me feels secured as I would just fall asleep again. I could feel her lips against my eyelids.

 

The days went by and the only time I could see those familiar faces around me was when I was asleep, though every time I would wake up I felt as if I was in a totally different world.

 

Then after a few days, I finally recognized the first familiar face and it was my Godmother. She was holding my hand and as I awoke she held me in her arms. Her tears just covered the side of my face and I still remained without saying a word.

 

Without making this story so long, I will just say that my Godmother and my Godfather became my parents shortly after that event, which just changed my life forever.

 

Curiously I must say that I happen to find people in the world with similar or related circumstances to the ones I have lived. As a perfect example I could use my experiences during my research project in Yucatan Mexico.

 

What is so curious is that I happen to connect with people without knowing really why, it is mostly out of just a good vibration which I feel from the inner most part of my soul when I meet someone.

 

I have learned to listen to these feelings though it is through them that I have met some amazing people with some amazing lives to share. I have always said that it is really easy to find the orphans in the crowd. At least, it has been for me.

 

Those strong relationships I have with friends who have lost one parent or both of them, as I have, could be the perfect example to this theory.

 

We just don't see family as a blood relationship. It always means much more and it is the reason why when we let someone into our personal lives, we do it for life!

 

This is very unusual for most people since our society is just highly overwhelmed by cases of divorce, painful break ups and sad separation cases. I guess most people are just used to saying good bye nowadays, that when someone decides to take on a separate path the first instinct is to burn everything left behind. This is the case with work relationships, different types of friendships, romantic relationships and even those relationships among family members.

 

However, this is not how Orphans see the world around them, though in my experience I have noticed that orphans take certain words a little more serious.

 

One characteristic that I have a very difficult time explaining to most people is that when I say that I love someone, it is just as if I had made a strong family link with them; thus I honor these words regardless of the path chosen. Although I am still a hopeless sentimental and I do believe in forever.

 

One common aspect that most orphans share is that we cannot ever pin point a single place that we can call home, though home is just an abstract place where we go to in our hearts.

 

This also makes us feel homesick for people more often than just a region in the world, making the statement so true "Home is where the heart is". Therefore, we see home far from being a physical place. It is most likely to see orphans give all their material possessions away since objects truly hold no meaning in their eyes.

 

However, an orphan will have a very difficult time letting go of a relationship and will most likely defend it until there is no argument left to be made. The modern world has an ugly word to describe this behavior and will often miscategorize it under obsession, or even at times codependency, which most cultures see it as a negative behavior. I simply see it a strong unbreakable bonding that makes a person extremely devoted.

 

So if you are one of those people who simply happen to make sense of my above explanation, whether you are an orphan or not I guess it doesn't matter, you will probably be told by most people that you are either old fashioned or just a silly sentimental.

 

Have courage and do not feel odd, you are not at all what the statistics paint you to be, what you have is a gift which sadly has become rare nowadays.

 

Sometimes I shake my head to see orphans being tormented with the idea that they do not belong in the real world or that they appear to be hopeless romantics and dreamers.

 

So this little encouragement composition goes to those orphans in the world who are walking amongst us, and of course to those people who still believe in Love, Family and Friendship.