Francis Gay

CHRISTINE got a “care parcel” this week.

No, she doesn’t live in some poverty stricken area. She’s an American in the UK and the package was full of things she missed from home. It was sent from a friend she was at college with — a Scot living in the States. Christine regularly returns the favour.

The two of them also send care parcels to a class-mate in Australia who sends Aussie treats in return.The amount that is spent on each package will be roughly the same.The cost of postage is roughly the same. So, you could say the packages cancel each other out.

Ahhh, but the level of care in each of their worlds goes up and up with each care package sent and received.

“EVERYBODY just assumes I’m part of the family and always have been,” Joanne told me after I’d made the same mistake.

The young woman sat with her mum, her brother and her two sisters. But there was no blood connection between Joanne and the others.

She had come into their lives as a child through a story of addiction and abuse. She had been fostered and then adopted. But that was so long ago she had no recollection of it and hardly thought about it.

Squeezing Joanne’s hand her mother summed it up beautifully. “Some families are just meant to be,” she told me. “Sometimes they have to go through a lot to find each other, but it’s always worth it when they do!”