She came home at the end of the summer, though it was definitely a good news/bad news kind of thing.
The good news, of course, was that Mom was home and we could stop making agonizing trips to New Haven with plastic smiles on our faces, sitting around tables for "family therapy" sessions which gave us absolutely zero insight into what the heck was going on.
The bad news was that the manic-depression thing came home with her. And after months of flying high, she had crashed to earth.
She did bring pills with her, which might have been helpful if she wasn't so suspicious of them.
~~~
Me: Mom? Whatcha doing?
Mom: An experiment.
Me: What's in the coffee cup?
Mom: I'm just going to try something.
Me: Um, why are you pouring that into the spider plant?
Mom: You just wait. In a few days that plant will be dead. Mark my words.
Mom: An experiment.
Me: What's in the coffee cup?
Mom: I'm just going to try something.
Me: Um, why are you pouring that into the spider plant?
Mom: You just wait. In a few days that plant will be dead. Mark my words.
~~~
This was the beginning of the new "normal" for our family.
Everyone has a story. If you simply ask who they are, or what their life has been like, that story will come to mind. They may choose not to tell it. Usually it's not easy to tell. But it's their story.
I wish I could end this story by telling you how that strange summer so long ago made me a better person, and taught me some profound life lessons. But mostly we all just got through it, and did the best that we could, and learned that you never know what life has in store. You could be calling the President one day, and poisoning your spider plant the next. You could bumble along thinking that you know your loved ones, and turn around to discover that they have suddenly disappeared.
You never know.
Everyone has a story. This is mine.
Thanks for listening.
~~~
5 comments:
That took courage. Thank you for telling it.
Yes, thanks for sharing your story. What a hard thing to grow up with!
Thanks, guys. It was an interesting time, but I suppose it did help shape me into the slightly-strange person I am today.
Yes, we all have our story. Mine is similar, but not to that extreme. Sounds like there is a really good book in there, whether you ever choose to write it or not.
It would be interesting to have a reference book to look up how different things in our lives shaped us. I'm sure it had a profound effect. Thanks for sharing.
Amazing. Just amazing.
You are absolutely right in saying that everyone has a story that would probably knock your socks off if you heard it.
You did mine!!!
Thank you for sharing this.
And I hope by writing it, it helped you sort out something deep inside.
We are all survivors in one way or another, aren't we?
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