In the kitchen, Gabby finds joy after years in foster care

SUGAR HOUSE — For 16-year-old Gabby, cooking has always been about more than making a meal.

"I've always cooked just because. Either for myself or for my siblings," she said. "And I've started cooking a lot for my boyfriend and his family, and, just for myself, too. It's pretty calming. I like it."

Gabby is now a junior in high school, and she recently got the chance to spend time in a culinary school, learning new skills and making homemade pizza with a chef.

"I was super excited," Gabby said. "I love pizza. This is amazing."

She says cooking gives her a chance to focus — and enjoy the result.

"I do kind of zone out of it, but it's all worth it," she said. "I love food so much."

She learned to cook for her younger siblings

Gabby's love of cooking started when she was younger, when she sometimes had to help make meals for her younger siblings.

"Because when I was younger, my mom wasn't in the house a lot, like my birth mother," Gabby said. "And so it was either me or my older brother making them food because they couldn't do it themselves."

Simple meals like burritos became some of her favorites.

"I really like to make burritos. They're not very tricky," she said. "Just because I've made them so many times."

Today, Gabby enjoys cooking for other people, too.

"I enjoy cooking for others," she said. "My boyfriend loves the food I make, and he always compliments it a lot, so that makes me feel very nice."

Five foster homes and counting

Gabby has spent much of her childhood navigating foster care.

"I've been to five foster homes," she said. "And I've had pending adoptions, but they never went through for their separate reasons."

She says she is now in a foster home where she feels comfortable.

"I'm at a pretty good place right now," Gabby said. "I've been there for about a year, almost. I'm not sure. But I like it. It's really nice, and everything's so close by, and my foster mom was pretty nice."

Moving from home to home has also meant changing schools.

"It's been tricky to move schools," she said. "But usually, my grades transfer to the new school I go to."

Academically, Gabby says she has managed to keep up. Emotionally, she says, the changes have been harder.

"No, it hasn't been too hard, on me academically," she said. "Maybe mentally it's been a little more hard, but not so much academically. Usually I'm pretty up with my academics because I know it's important."

What she wants in a family

When Gabby thinks about the kind of family she would like to have, she says she isn't looking for anything complicated.

"Just someone who cares," she said.

Gabby has learned to be independent, but she says having someone else to lean on would be nice.

"I'm sort of independent by myself so far," she said. "So maybe just someone to take a little bit of that independence off my shoulders would be a little nice."

And there is one other important requirement: cats.

"I really do like cats, so maybe cats is a pet or something that would be nice," Gabby said.

Finding joy in the little things

When life gets difficult, Gabby says she turns to the people she cares about.

"Just talking to others that I care about a lot," she said. "And I really like taking naps as a way to just calm down if I'm stressed or upset at anything."

She also finds comfort in laughing with people she loves.

"Usually talking or laughing with others is really nice, too," she said.

And when she's in the kitchen, Gabby gets another chance to do something she loves: take care of the people around her.

"I enjoy cooking for others," she said.

For Gabby, that may be a simple meal, a homemade pizza or a batch of burritos.

But behind every dish is a teenager who has learned to take care of herself, and hopes someday to have a family that can help take care of her, too.

To learn more about Gabby, visit the Raise The Future website.

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