One Week

A week ago I felt my world was falling apart. My son was sent to jail, the girls were fighting and mad at me, my marriage is over and the residual effects of that are draining me emotionally, I’m going through perimenopause so my emotions are all over the place and I felt alone. To top it off I had hopes of having lunch with a friend who had to cancel and as understandable as it was it took me spiraling down into the depths of hell. I cried most of the weekend and felt like I wanted to be anywhere but here.

It was the perfect opportunity for me to reach out and say I need to talk but instead I withdrew into my shell and went it alone. I made it through the weekend but it was time wasted instead of shared. It was miserable instead of comforting and therapeutic. I did have a few people who reached out to me and gave me words of advice and tried to steer me back on the right path and that did help but I was my own worst enemy at that point. I was determined to take the blame and heap it on my shoulders. I wanted to wallow in my misery and pain because it’s all I know. It’s like Linus’ blanket. My miseries, my hell, and my life’s failures all bring me comfort.

The idea of happiness, peace and joy are unfamiliar to me but something I advocate strongly for in the lives of others.

Today I am better. Things haven’t changed but my mindset has. Instead of wanting to wallow I am pulling myself out of the pit and advocating for myself. I want to be able to find something meaningful out of all of this and to reflect back on this time and be able to see where God has brought me from and feel blessed and loved like I know that I am. I want to stop going it alone.

So it is 6:00 on Saturday morning and I am embracing the fact that I am wide awake due to night sweats and in the midst of writing this have been having hot flashes because it’s all a part of my life and I am loving it good, bad and indifferent!

For his anger lasts only a moment, but his favor lasts a lifetime; weeping may stay for the night, but rejoicing comes in the morning. (Psalm 30:5)

Gone Again...

Here we go again... five months lost, gone, never to be recouped in the life of a son gone rouge yet again. I don’t even know how to express how I feel about this latest twist of events in his life. I've been through so much with him and yet things are still happening.

What’s so heart-wrenching is that it is from the same stuff over and over again and the lesson just doesn’t seem to be learned.

How do you show up for court and blow a .07 at 9:00 in the morning? How do you get 4 tickets for driving on a suspended license and continue to drive. How do you get piss ass drunk every day and wake up to do it all over again? Why do you continuously hurt those that love you, lie to them, let them down and most of all slowly kill yourself one drink at a time?

Why is it that when you are sober you are a good son, brother, dad, boyfriend and friend to all those that know and love you but with each reach for alcohol you lose all sense of who you are in the name of having a good time. You have so much promise, so much love and bring us such joy during your sobriety only to throw it all away when you reach for the beer, the alcohol, the cigarettes and the "fun times" you think you're having while you are doing all of those things.

Oh son of mine if only I could save you from your demons; soothe away what hurts you and put you on the straight and narrow path towards freedom and peace of mind. I long for that with all my heart for you and hope that these next five months will be a time of enlightenment for you as you have to stare into the eyes of your child through a glass window.

My prayer will be for healing, for strength and for peace. My hope will be for change and rejuvenation. My desire is that you will be safe and that you will look to God to get you through this time.

I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help. My help cometh from the LORD, which made heaven and earth. He will not suffer thy foot to be moved: he that keepeth thee will not slumber. Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep. The LORD is thy keeper: the LORD is thy shade upon thy right hand. The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night. The LORD shall preserve thee from all evil: he shall preserve thy soul. The LORD shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore. (Psalm 121)