Taking Terri Mueller (17 page)

TWENTY-EIGHT

       
Dear dearest Mother,

I'm writing this in study hall. I wanted to write you lots sooner, but it seemed like there was a lot to do every single day this week. All the teachers load us up with work in the new term, I guess. Anyway, from now on, I really will write you every week just the way I promised.

You should have seen Barkley when I came home. He went wild. He was really happy to see me. I was pretty happy to see him, too!

I know that you and I talked everything over, but I still want to say something. I don't want you to be hurt by what I did—I mean, coming back to live with Daddy. I don't want you to ever think that I did it because there was anything wrong with living with you.

I love you and Leah, and everyone else, but I love Daddy, too, and I can't stop loving him. I know what he did was wrong. I know it made people suffer. I know now how much I lost because of it. But I don't hate him for it. I can't and I never will.

I will come to live with you over the summer the way we talked about it. And I hope very much that
Daddy will agree to move to California so that I can see you often.

Dearest Mother, I love you with all my heart, and I miss you very very much.

Your daughter always,

Terri.

If in reading
Taking Terri Mueller,
you think that Terri's story may be your story, and that there may be a parent looking for you, then you should know about CHILD FIND of AMERICA.

CHILD FIND of AMERICA is the center point for missing children and their searching parents. CHILD FIND helps parents and children find one another. For more information contact:

CHILD FIND of AMERICA

P.O. Box 277

New Paltz, New York 12561

845-883-6060

www.childfindofamerica.org

If you are a child call:

1-800-I-AM-LOST

NORMA FOX MAZER grew up in Glens Falls, New York, in the foothills of the Adirondack Mountains.

When asked why she wrote TAKING TERRI MUELLER, Ms. Mazer replied, “I read that there are an estimated 25,000 children stolen each year in the aftermath of divorce and that most of them will never see their mothers again. I was not only saddened by this bleak statistic, I was also startled and fascinated that in the name of love adults would deprive their children not only of a parent but of family and friends, community and stability. I wrote this book for both adults and children. First, because it's a story I think everyone can connect to; and second—as in all my writing for young people—to say, ‘Okay, life is not easy, but don't despair. There is strength inside you.'”