When everything is awful, you wonder why you’re there. You get another phone call from school to report that your stepson is truant…again. Or your son just got caught shoplifting candy. Or your kid is depressed and can’t get up to go to school. Your stepdaughter is stealing money or worse, your clothes. You catch your daughter in a lie. Or you found a bong in your stepson’s underwear drawer.
Always your heart drops, your stomach aches, you feel so angry, discouraged and beaten down. You think you can stand it no more. Then something switches.
You get the help you need. You talk to your spouse and together you make a plan. The two of you go out to dinner; you say how much you love each other. The offender comes clean and makes amends. You have a good talk with a close friend or your counselor. Something good happens.
I’ve heard it all…I’ve experienced most of it…I’ve grown up tremendously from the burden…and always our family has survived. Ready for the next crisis. Because there will always be something.
Susan Wisdom, MA
February 2011