“The boy who asked to be adopted with his sister”

My name is Miguel, I’m eight years old, and I’ve lived at the San José Home for as long as I can remember. Well, not completely alone. My little sister Emma, ​​who is five and has the biggest and most beautiful eyes in the entire world, lives here with me.

Aunt Carmen, who takes care of all the children, always tells me I’m special. She says I have Down syndrome, but I don’t really understand what that means. What I do understand is that sometimes it takes me a little longer to learn things, but Emma always helps me.

“Miguel, come here,” Aunt Carmen called to me this morning. “I want to introduce you to some very important people.”

I ran toward the office, but first I stopped by Emma’s room.

“Come with me, little sister. There are visitors.”

She shook her head, shy as always.

“No, Miguel. You go alone.”

In the office, there was a very elegant woman with blond hair and a tall man with a mustache. They both smiled at me when I walked in.

“Hi, Miguel,” the woman said, bending down to be at my eye level. “My name is Patricia, and this is my husband, Roberto. We came here because we’d really like you to be part of our family.”

My heart started beating fast. I had often dreamed of having a real family, with Mom and Dad reading me bedtime stories.
“Really?” I asked, unable to believe what I was hearing.

“Definitely,” Roberto replied, smiling. “We have a big house with a yard where you could play. And your room would be just yours, with toys and books.”
I was silent for a moment, thinking. Then I asked something I knew was very important:

“And can Emma come too?”

Patricia’s smile turned a little odd, like when Aunt Carmen doesn’t know what to say to me.

“Miguel, darling… we came for you. Emma is your little friend from home, right? But you’ll have new friends at your new school.”

“No,” I said, feeling as if a lump had been lodged in my throat. “Emma isn’t my little friend. She’s my sister.”

“But, Miguel,” Roberto chimed in, “you’re not blood siblings…”

“Yes, we are siblings!” I shouted, feeling my eyes fill with tears. “Emma has always been my sister. When she cries at night, I hug her. When she doesn’t understand her homework, I help her. And when I feel sad, she makes me laugh.”

Aunt Carmen came over and put her hand on my shoulder.

“Miguel, my boy, this is a very special opportunity for you…”

“I don’t want special opportunities if Emma can’t come,” I said, crossing my arms. “I promised to always take care of her. I promised it to the Virgin Mary at the altar.”

Patricia and Roberto looked at each other. I could see they were speaking without words, as adults sometimes do.

“Miguel,” Patricia said gently, “adopting two children is… it’s more complicated. We have to think about it.”

“Why?” I asked. “Emma is the best girl in the world. She can count to 100, and when we play house, she always shares her pretend food with me.”

At that moment, Emma appeared in the office doorway. She had her rag doll in her arms and looked at me with worried little eyes.

“Miguel? Are you okay? I heard you scream.”

I ran to her and hugged her tightly.

“Emma, ​​these people want to adopt me, but only me.”

Emma looked at me and then at Patricia and Roberto. In her timid little voice, she said:

“If Miguel leaves, I’m going to be very alone. He’s the one who protects me from nightmares.”

Patricia approached us and crouched down again.

“Emma, ​​right? You’re very pretty.”

“Miguel says I’m his princess,” Emma replied, smiling for the first time.

“And it’s true,” I said. “That’s why I can’t leave without her. Real siblings never part.”

Roberto sighed and whispered something to Patricia. She nodded and looked at both of us.

“You know what? Roberto and I need to talk a little. Can you wait for us here with Aunt Carmen?”

They left the office, and I heard them talking quietly in the hallway. Emma took my hand.

“What’s going to happen, Miguel?”

“I don’t know, sis.” But no matter what happens, we’ll be together. I promise.

After what seemed like hours, Patricia and Roberto returned. Patricia’s eyes were a little red, as if she’d been crying.

“Miguel, Emma,” Patricia said, sitting on the floor next to us, “Roberto and I have been talking a lot. At first, we thought we just wanted a child, but… things have happened in our lives that have made us reflect on how important family is.”

She took a deep breath before continuing.
“Five years ago, we had a baby who got very sick and went to heaven. Her name was Sofia, and we always wanted to give her a little brother or sister to play with.”

Roberto came over too and placed his large hand on our heads.

“Seeing the love you two have for each other, we realized that maybe Sofia sent us not a child, but two siblings who need each other.”

“Does that mean…?” I asked, hardly daring to hope.

“It means,” Patricia said, with a huge smile, “that if you want, we’d really like the two of you to come over. We’ll have to fix Emma’s room too, but I think she’d like the pink room we had prepared for Sofia.”

Emma jumped up and down with excitement and hugged me so tightly we almost fell over.

“Miguel! We’re going to have a real mom and dad!”

“And we’re going to be together!” I shouted back, feeling like my heart was going to explode with happiness.

Aunt Carmen wiped her eyes with her apron and smiled.

“Well, I think we have a lot of paperwork to do,” she said. “But first, how about Patricia and Roberto stay for lunch? Emma makes delicious butter sandwiches.”

“Yes!” Emma and I shouted simultaneously.

As we walked toward the dining room, Emma tugged at my shirt.

“Miguel, are we really going to be a family?”

“We’re already a family, little sister,” I said, taking her little hand. “Only now it’s going to be a little bigger.”

And for the first time in a long time, I truly believed that dreams can come true. Especially when you have someone you love so much that you can’t imagine life without them. Especially when you understand that true family isn’t about blood, but about the heart.

That night, while we waited in our beds for all the paperwork to be finished, Emma whispered to me from her bed:

“Miguel, thank you for not leaving without me.”

“I never would, Emma. Brothers and sisters in love never part.”

And that’s how I learned that the greatest love isn’t the one you receive, but the one you give. And that sometimes, the best families are the ones formed not by chance, but by choice.