Just be yourself, don't let anyone tell you who you are. Be your own you. These are some words that people now days say to ‘live by.’ But that becomes quite hard when people are holding you back in your life. Tessa was a regular everyday high school girl. She was a senior who was going through the same struggles as every other high school senior was. She was self conscious, nervous, hand many pimples, thought she was fat, and was nervous as ever for college.

Tessa was going through something a little off the beaten tracks for a regular everyday high school senior though. Her parents had passed away in a car accident a few years back. Everything changed in her life that day. Before her parents died, Tessa lived in a large home on a lot of land with many beautiful trees. She was considered a fairly spoiled child. She had one little brother named Tommy and he was 11 years old. Everything in Tessas life was smooth sailing, nothing bad had happened in her life that impacted her day to day living.

On September 3rd, 2015, Tessas life was changed forever and would never be the same again. On that day, Tessa lost two of the most important people in her life. Before this day she never thought anything bad could have happened to her, she was that teenager that thought she was invincible. But that for sure was not the case at all.

Tessa was at school going on with her life not thinking of much and was in auto pilot, as is every other high school student just trying to get through the day. Her phone rang, it was a call from 911. “That's odd.” Thought Tessa. But she answered it anyway. “Hello, is this Tessa Sanders?” Asked the officer. “Yes that is me, can I help you officer?” Asked Tessa. “I just wanted to formally inform you that an officer is coming to your school to pick you up, he is on his way right now.” Said the officer. Tessa was very confused and she started to worry about what could have happened. Many awful thoughts started racing through her head and she was trying to wrap her head around what could have happened.

The officer met Tessa in the office of the school 10 minutes after she received that call. But it felt like she had been waiting for decades. Finally, a large man walked in with a shiny police badge on. He didn't confront Tessa right away which she found odd, instead he went to the front desk and asked to speak to Tessa Sanders. The lady pointed in her direction. The officer appeared to be the largest man Tessa had ever seen before. He asked her to come with him. They were walking for what seemed like way too long to just “talk.” Before she knew it they were in the cop car that was parked right outside of her school. What was going on? Why is this happening to me? Tessa had no idea what to think, but all she felt was extreme fear.

As they drove off, Tessa decided it was time to ask him a question, “what is going on? Where are we going?” Tessa asked nervously.
“We need to go pick your little brother tommy up from his school before I tell you anything.” The officer replied to Tessa.
The officer approached Tommys school and got out of the car. A few minutes later she saw the officer and her little brother tommy walking towards the cop car. Tommy slid in next to her.
Tessa whispered to tommy, “do you know what's going on?”
Tommy replied, “I was going to ask you the same exact question.”
The cop drove off and they got to their home.
“Ok I think it's only right for you to tell us what is going on now officer.” Tessa said.
“I'm going to need to sit you down.” Replied the officer.
The two siblings sat on their sunken couch and didn't even know what to think was about to hit them.
“I'm very sorry to inform you, but your parents were in a fatal car accident on their way to work about an hour and a half ago. The ambulance rushed them to the hospital in a helicopter as quickly as they could, but unfortunately they passed away before they made it to the hospital.” The officer said, with tears in his eyes as he gave the brutal news to the children.
Tessa and Tommy reacted in different ways, tommy ran off to his room with tears streaming down his cheeks. And Tessa just sat there bawling silently not knowing what to even do with herself. Why was this happening? Why did this happen to her family?
All Tessa could think to do was wail out, “why God? Why did you do this to my family?”

There was problems in court on who was going to be the care takers of the Sanders children. Their grandparents had passed away years ago, they didn't have any aunts or uncles because both of their parents were only children, and their god parents had passed as well. Long story short, the sanders kids were all on their own. The only option for them was foster care.

It seemed like Tessa's whole world was closing in on her. Everything was awful and she didn't know how to handle anything anymore. Tommy and Tessa had always been very close. They did everything together and were each other's best friends. Tessa couldn't imagine life without tommy, especially now that they only had each other. Until they were forced to go to separate foster homes, hours away from one another.

It was Tessa and Tommys last day together for who knows how long. Both of them were very sad to be leaving each other, but they had no idea how to put all of their emotions into words. It was time now, time to part ways. No one should have to go through his much pain life, especially at such young ages. Her brother was her lifeline, she couldn't bear the thought of living without that little bundle of joy in her life every single day. She needed him in order to get through the obstacles of everyday life. But now she can't have that. In the last minutes that the two had together, they decided to pray. Their faith had become very strong when they lost their parents, because God and each other we're all that they had. They held hands and Tessa started out by saying, “ Dear Lord, we are asking you to help us through this what seems like an impossible journey ahead for the both of us, keep us safe and secure and help us know that some day we will find our way back to each other. Amen.” Tessa looked down  her little brother and a tear escaped each of their eyes at the same moment.

They didn't say goodbye to each other, because they knew in their hearts they would see each other again. “I love you Tessa.” “I love you tommy.” Both of their hearts broke into pieces as they walked further and further away from each other, getting into separate cars.

A couple years have passed, the two siblings that once loved each other so much haven't been able to see each other for 3 years. 3 very long years. Tessa is now 18 and can take her brother in and care for him on her own. The first time they saw each other it was the most amazing feeling ever. They embraced each other and they both knew what each other was thinking, that embrace made them feel safe and at home. And neither of them had been able to feel that in quite some time. As awful as life can people at times, there is always something or someone that can make your life worth living.