A regular life where it’s “all good”
On the outside, everything seems typical of a family with a teenage son.
Peanut butter and jelly for lunch, “Heroes” on Monday nights and football on Thanksgiving.
But Meadowdale High running back Naji Moore-Taylor, 15, knew things were really normal when chores entered the equation.
“You know it’s just a regular life,” Naji said, “when you’re getting up in the morning, about to leave the house and your mom says, ‘Did you make your bed?’ That’s how you know everything’s all good.”
Although things are “all good,” Naji is living a life far from typical. Bounced around from foster home to foster home, he was adopted as a teenager by Meadowdale girls basketball coach Dan Taylor and his wife, Kate, and moved across country to live with his new family.
In his new home, he’s gotten a second chance with a family that loves him. And he’s making his family proud as he helped lead the football team to the quarterfinals of the Class 3A state playoffs.
Kate Taylor was the first to meet Naji, who grew up in Brooklyn, N.Y. She was on a Christian mission trip where she was helping out at a basketball camp that he was attending.
The Taylors felt they had a calling to adopt a teenager, and Kate immediately knew that Naji was the one. She called her husband a few days after meeting Naji, told him the situation, and, without even meeting him, Dan agreed to pursue the adoption.
“Dan and I had been praying about adopting an older child,” Kate, 30, said. “Adoption was really something we were passionate about. We just have a heart for teens.”
Naji agreed to pursue the adoption a day later, and by May 2006, he was living permanently with his new family. After months of paperwork and convincing a particular judge that the adoption would benefit everyone, the Taylors officially could call Naji their son in August 2007.
But when a grown kid enters a new household, it can be a bit weird at first, like having a stranger in the house.
Naji’s background made things tough, too. His birth parents lost him to the state system when he was a baby because - he thinks - he was left alone in the house.
After spending time in more than 20 foster homes, he returned to his mother, who then physically and verbally abused him. He didn’t know his father well, but just when he started to get to know him, he was shot and killed.
“It was hard to make a transition because my dad died, so I didn’t really want a male figure in my life,” Naji said. “And then, just getting abused by my mom, the woman figure in my life was destroyed. It was hard to build that wall of trust again.”
Perhaps sports helped. Dan Taylor, 31, is in his third year coaching the Meadowdale girls basketball team, which took an undefeated record into last year’s 3A state tournament before finishing sixth. Naji is a three-sport athlete, playing football, basketball and track.
“We clicked,” said Dan Taylor about his first meeting with Naji. “And part of the rapport we built was helped by sports. We were able to shoot the breeze about those types of things.
“You just get excited when you watch him. People have been laughing because I show more emotion at his games than I do at ours. At his games, I’m jumping on the stands and screaming and losing my voice. It’s cool to be a fan of a family member.”
There’s been a lot to cheer about lately. Despite losing 42-7 to O’Dea High in the quarterfinals of the Class 3A state playoffs, the Mavericks (7-5) upset Evergreen High in the first round and went deeper in the playoffs than most anticipated.
Naji helped greatly in the playoffs, including a five-touchdown game in 40-19 preliminary round win over Auburn Riverside High. He finished the season with 13 touchdowns and more than 900 yards rushing, splitting carries in the Mavericks’ backfield. He led the Mavericks with 97 yards rushing in the loss to O’Dea.
“Naji’s happy to be here,” said Mavericks coach Mark Stewart, a former UW football standout. “He’s a great person. A great individual. He fits in really well with all our players here. He has great leadership skills. He’s a great kid to coach.”
Naji went back to New York this past August to visit family, but he got homesick and ended up staying for about six weeks, missing the first four football games and the first month of school.
“We were totally afraid that was the end of our life with Naji,” said Kate Taylor.
But he then realized that New York was in a past life and he now belongs in Washington.
“We’re watching him develop as a young man and learn how to share who he is with us,” Kate said. “That’s totally a huge honor, but it’s also great evidence in the fact that he’s starting to trust us and love us.”
Said Naji: “I finally realized that this is where I’m supposed to be.”