hearing everything, was torn. The next morning, Max was gone. A note left behind read, “Don’t search for me.” I found him at a rundown motel, sitting with Macy, who pleaded to take him back. Max had talked to her, heard her reasons for abandoning him, but he finally realized: Macy wasn’t his mother. I was. He wanted to go home with me.NWe returned home, and in the weeks that followed,
Max’s emotional wall began to crumble. He started calling me “Mom” and proudly introduced me as such to his friends. On Parents’ Day, he led me to his desk, showing off his science project. One night, as I tucked him in, he said, “You’re my real mom, Elizabeth. Not because of DNA, but because you chose me every day.” I realized then that love doesn’t need blood to bind it. It’s the choice to stay, to weather the storms, and to keep showing up day after day that creates the strongest bonds of all.