Friends With Social Hurricane

We had a very rough time of it with Social Hurricane a few years ago.  Full blown bipolar disorder onset plus an extremely rebellious streak showing itself.  Ran away from home a few times and stayed away for days (didn't know where she was), had a couple of suicide attempts, a few trips to the hospital, two stays in psychiatric facilities, and all manner of unhealthy behaviors.

We got into several yelling matches, I had to physically restrain her more than once, and one time I knocked her locked door down because she was doing herself mischief on the other side of it.

It was a pretty stressful era, to be honest with you.

So it's come as a bit of a surprise that she and I are getting along great these days.  We talk about lots of things, enjoy going out and doing stuff together, and bond over a mutual love for certain authors and books.  The relationship's not perfect, but if you'd told me a few years back that I'd find myself sitting at Bojangles with my daughter hearing with entertainment about funny stories from her work day and telling her a few from mine, I don't know that I would have believed you.

It's nice, to have come safely through a storm.

Hope all's well out there, friends, and God bless.

Accustomed to Abnormal

I came up with a metaphor for my crazy life.

It goes like this.  I'm a terrible plumber.  I'm a halfway decent carpenter and I can do basic wiring and some other household maintenance odds and ends, but my plumbing jobs are usually stressful, expensive, and leaky.  I've just never had the knack for it.

So the other day when I replaced a sink faucet without too much trouble and it's no longer dripping and nothing appears to be leaking, I was caught a little off guard.  Honestly, it's not that I miss the drip, but it's an oddly buoyant feeling that it's not an issue any more.  I'm kind of weirded out; I don't know how to think about it.  I keep checking under the sink expecting a leak--it's like waiting for the other shoe to drop.  (This only relates to plumbing--I can swap out a light switch and not think about it any more.)

But it occurred to me sometime after the fact that this could be a metaphor for my family's life and the lives of a lot of people dealing with chronic health and personal issues.

What if everything were all of a sudden "normal" tomorrow?  What if Adored Wife and Social Hurricane were abruptly perfectly healthy, what if Basement Artist and I weren't dealing with our various psychological quirks (and, heck with it, what if my bad knee was okay) and what if Graphics Magician wasn't trying to survive adolescence AND middle school?

We wouldn't know what to do with ourselves.  It would be a complete change in our lives, one we weren't prepared for and wouldn't know how to handle.  We've had VERY difficult times in our lives here and there, when hoping for an uninterrupted night's sleep or fifteen peaceful minutes to sit down and decompress was wishful thinking.  Things aren't anywhere nearly that chaotic now, and I don't miss the really bad times, but you got accustomed to them.

What would it be like for you, friends, if you woke up tomorrow and things were "normal?"

Hope all's well out there, friends, and God bless.

Keeping Perspective

We've been through some interesting times.  Here's a partial list of adventures of our family members:

Chronic illness.
Premature birth.
Surgery.
More surgery.
More surgery.
A little more surgery.
Several moves.
Getting fired.
Car trouble.
More car trouble.
Lots more car trouble.
House trouble.
Car wrecks.
Financial troubles and debt.
More financial troubles and debt.
Still more financial troubles and debt.
Troubles with health insurance.
Troubles with medical bills.
Troubles with unethical businesses.
Getting hit by a car while walking.
Having the house flood.
Having the house flood some more.
Yep, more flooding.
Having the house burgled.
Bullies.
Illness of family members.
Academic troubles.
Troubles at work.
Having people in our house yelling at us.
Relationship issues.
Chronic pain.
Dental troubles.
Runaways.
Suicide attempts.
Two stays in a psychiatric facility.
Self-mutilation.
Gossip.
Depression.
Anxiety.
Anger.
Mania.
Loneliness.
Lots of counseling.
Death of pets.
Death of friends.
Death of family members.

I could probably come up with some more.  It's been eventful, honestly, and nineteen of the items on the list are in the here-and-now.

How do we keep perspective?
1. We pray.
2. We joke.
3. We show love to each other by spending time with, taking care of, and affirming one another.
4. We remind ourselves that whatever else may happen God's in control and "this too shall pass."
5. We count our blessings.
6. We stay focused on what's important.

It's amazing how well that works.

Hope all's well out there, friends, and God bless.