He blasted out the door with the force of a rocket leaving the bounds of earth. Rocks flew as he hit the gas pedal to speed out of the driveway. The screen door now had the bottom broken out and hung by one hinge. The front door knob had left a hole in the wall when
For homeschoolers, a more exciting sign of spring than blooming flowers, warmer sunshine, and the arrival of daylight saving time is graduation planning. Our minds fill with so many thoughts from the practical logistics of the day to the whispers that you might be “less than” and have passed that failure on to your graduate.
The day my son called and told me about his attempted suicide, followed by telling me that he had been diagnosed with a mental illness, I tried to maintain a “sunny attitude.” Part of the charade was so he wouldn’t get angry and hang up. And, part was due to not knowing what else to do. It was three days before I cried.
Coping: Self-Care
One of my first questions when our son was returning home after a suicide attempt was, “How do we ‘watch’’ him?” I didn’t get the answer I wanted: “You don’t.”
I was prepared to have a 24-hour watch, and do it all myself if I had to. That was neither possible nor practical. In the emotion of the moment, I wasn’t thinking; I was reacting. I didn’t, couldn’t, think about myself.