parenting a highly intelligent child with ADHD
Its really odd, parenting an ADHD kid when you are 51. the oldest grand S, well, she is ADHD. For the longest time, I thought ADHD equated to bad parenting.
We had three foster kids. They were abused, fetal alcohol syndrome, mildly retarded and ADHD. They couldn’t function without ADHD medication. And when I say couldn’t function, I mean COULD NOT function. I learned my lesson there.
ADHD is a disease of the brain.
What it means in reality and behavior is complex and complicated. Additionally, S is quite gifted and intelligent.
It is possible to raise a child with ADHD and no medication.
I did it with the mother of S.
Guess what. There are some problems in doing that I wasn’t aware of.
Turns out, that undiagnosed and untreated ADHD in children is mostly home treated with the following which DOES work.
A safe and very structured home environment with lots of one on one attention from the primary parent/caretaker, and lots of rules, rewards and structure. Schedule. Schedule. Schedule.
It works really well. Hell, I thought I was the BOMB for raising my kids well. The oldest is in college going to nursing school and with a 4.0. she had her very rocky times as a youngster. She was the defiant one. The rebel.
The next was the adhd one. Very bright. Genius in fact. Very dedicated. Very good grades. Studied harder on her own than I could have ever made her do. Minded well, didn’t rebel too much.
Then, she went away to college after graduating high school.
And failed miserably. Almost died in fact, cause her two primary food groups were beer and tequila, with the secondary food group being pot and the third being an overstuffed baked potato from wendy’s.
That doesn’t work well in college, or anywhere else for that matter.
An exerpt from an ADHD brochure says in part, a VERY important part…
An undiagnosed child with adhd can be raised well in a very structured and schedule and safe environment and this works really well, until the child grows into an adult and moves out into the real world where that environment doesn’t exist. Then they fail miserably and horribly. And over 76% of them turn to hard drugs or alcohol or both to cope.
HELLOOOOOOOOOOOO.
Enter stage left, junkie daughter.
And adhd runs in families. If you have a parent who has it, you have a 50% chance of being ADHD. Well, in S’s case Both her parents have it. And both parents were unmedicated, untreated in childhood, and both parents are junkies.
So, S is medicated. Now, she is on the lowest dose of medication that they offer for a 7 year old kid. And it works really well. She taught herself to read at age 4. I really mean that. She taught HERSELF to read. She did ask me “meemaw, if you put the c and the a and the t together, how do you know what word they make.” So, I told her, you sound out the c, and you sound out the a, and you sound out the t..and you put them all together and they make cccccaaaaaaaattt!
She took that, and started sounding out all the words in her books, which were many. At age 4.
At age 7, she is reading 6th or 7th grade level books, and understanding them. Harry potter, Narnia, etc.
You cannot bullshit a brilliant 7 yr old. Ever. Doesn’t work. Don’t try. They call bullshit every single time.
Problem is, they don’t sleep either. That is the H part of ADHD. Hyper. Yes, physically they are somewhat hyper. But their BRAIN is a whole lot more hyper than their little bodies. Trust me. Her brain just does NOT shut down.
Here’s a secret, I think I am adhd too. I don’t take medication. Hell, I am 51 years old now. But my brain is like that.
I thought it was normal to think simultaneously about 4 or 5 things at a time. I don’t mean one after the other. I mean AT THE SAME TIME. Think of a machine that has five gears, all turning at the same time. Each one not even aware of the others in a sense. Each one doing their job.
That’s MY brain NOT on drugs. I am used to it. Makes it hard to go to sleep though, always has.
I use meditation and prayer to sleep. It works for me. I am 51.
I am teaching it to S. it doesn’t work yet on her. It was 1 AM before her little brain let her go to sleep. She was good, quiet, didn’t disrupt anything, didn’t scream or throw fits. Was just AWAKE.
I am too old for that. Trust me.
She gets a sleeping pill tonight. First time ever. Dr prescribed them for her a couple of months ago. I didn’t want to give it to her. Tonight, I will cave.
Once I have her sleeping by nine for ONE night, I should be able to put her back on the schedule so the sleeping pill thingy is a one time issue.
But I don’t like it.
I don’t’ even like giving her the medicine for the adhd. But she cannot discipline her brain yet on her own to settle down and learn effectively. So, she will be on the medication until she can train her brain.
She goes to a small catholic school. Not because I am catholic, but because of the structure, the small classes, (first grade had 15 kids) and the ability of the staff to allow the kids to be themselves.
We tried her in the public school. It was a disaster and we live in the 3rd best school district (out of 20) in our county. There were 22 kids in her class and the teacher was very good. It didn’t work at all. BAD. Even on her medication, she couldn’t settle down and learn well. Handwriting was atrocious and sloppy. Papers were a disaster.
Back to catholic school she went. Improvement immediately.
She is a challenge.
Her sister shows NO signs of ADHD. Thank you God. I can only do one. Trust me.
S showed it at age 3 months. A three month old baby sleeps A LOT. Not her. She napped for about 20 minutes in the morning, one hour in the afternoon and then at night, had to be held and sung to and rocked for over an hour to get her to slow down enough to sleep. This hasn’t really changed.
Now I know.
She can be really tired and yawning. Absolutely exhausted. But her brain will not shut down.
I feel bad for her.
She is only 7 in two days for God’s sake.
And that is a problem too.
Imagine a 7 year old who you can talk to like she is 13 or 14. carry on intense conversations with about oh, physics, math, ethics, religion.
People start to treat her like a 13 year old.
And then she ACTS like a 7 year old.
And people get MAD
Really mad
People who should know better
They don’t take her on their lap and comfort her
They YELL at her
And I get FURIOUS
Then there is a fight on. Trust me.
Because yelling doesn’t help at all. It makes it much much worse. Much.
Everything has to be explained to S, in calm and quiet terms, and further, you have to allow her to explore the whole issue by questioning. Its not a cut and dried thing. Like, I am the adult and you do what I say. Period.
Doesn’ t work. Just doesn’t
Because you are dealing with the over developed brain of a 13 or 14 year old and the emotions of a 5-7 year old. And that is both hard and confusing for the poor kid who has all those things running around in her body and brain.
Enough. Challenges are just that. A challenge.
Parenting her is a challenge. A fun one, an exhilarating one. Full of love and smiles and I love you meemaw’s. but a challenge nonetheless.
I pray I will continue to be up for it.
weirdness
Life in the household has settled into a bit of a bizarre format.
The niece moved up here from m town due to a fight with her half sister.
The baby lost the room I promised she would never lose, but I think/believe it is temporary and she is not upset.
The son is resident on either the recliner or the couch in the family room.
The niece in the bedroom, or the couch or the recliner depending.
Now THAT is a strange situation.
The boy is 21 august 19. the niece just turned 19 july 20. both cuspers. I hate cuspers. They are a contradiction in terms.
The boy is highly intelligent. Lazy. Doesn’t have a driven bone in his body.
The niece is highly intelligent. Driven. Passionate. Earthy.
They are falling in love. Now remember. She is my niece by blood, the only child of my oldest brother. He is my son via painless birth, my husband’s ex wife having given birth to him for me.
No blood relation there at all.
Not raised together in that she was in California until recently and they have never met, corresponded, talked. Nothing. Nada. Zip.
He doesn’t suffer fools gladly. He hasn’t dated much because all the girls he has met have been normal 18 and 19 year old girls. Stupid. Silly, wear complete make up to go and check the mail box. Live at the mall.
She finished high school at 16, and already has two years of college under her belt. Which by the way, is a 1st degree black belt in tae kwon do.
He is used to a female role model of well, ME. I don’t wear makeup except at funerals and weddings. Levi jeans and t shirts with sayings such as “don’t let your mind wander, its too young to be out on it’s own” and “stupid should HURT” and..well, you know.
The boy has seen me under a car changing an alternator. He has seen me so dirty with muck from cleaning a basement that I should be declared a quarantine. He has heard me cuss like a merchant marine. (sorry ava.) he has seen me holding newborns with utmost tenderness. He has seen me work with a migrane that would kick the ass of a strong mule. He has seen me sleep deprived.
And, not to break my arm trying to pat myself on the back, but THAT is what he wants in a partner/mate/wife.
And those, are hard to come by.
She is one of those. Genetics DO in fact tell.
That’s funny too. The old, nurture verses nature question.
Him I nurtured and raised. He is like me.
Her I had nothing to do with the raising of, but we share the same dna
They are like opposite sides of each other.
She says she had to come 3000 miles to find the family that she FIT into.
Same humor. Same quick retorts. Same memory. Same intellect. Same sarcasm. She never fit into her biological family. She loves her mother and sisters, they are wonderful people. But it was always an awkward fit.
My brother, her father, is an asshole. She hasn’t had anything to do with him for years and years.
She fits into MY part of the biological family spectrum.
They are very touchy feely. Hell, they are young.
One of them has to move out soon or it will be a problem.
I can accept my own niece as a daughter in law. I think.
I texted her phone yesterday. I felt like I needed to tell her I only have one son. Break his heart, I will HURT you back. I have a lot of vengeance in me. Don’t bring it out.
I do believe in love at first sight. My husband and I had it and we are going on our 17th year. We are best friends first and foremost, married second and lovers third. (good thing cause who has the TIME or the energy for THAT?)
But boy oh boy, how weird is my family.
Resident in our house now.
Sometimes 17 yr old who works and stays with her bio mom and us back and forth. No room anymore. Car and job
Recovering junkie daughter, pregnant again. No job, no car. Guest bedroom, soon to be oldest grandchild’s bedroom when this one moves out.
7 year old of above, we have custody of. bedroom
4 year old of above, we have custody of. Shared with sister bedroom
21 year old son, graduated from college. No job. No car. Couch in family room.
19 year old niece, graduated from college, going BACK to college with 17 year old when that one is graduated from h.school. car, car payment, no job yet. Ex bedroom of youngest daughter.
Me and hubby. Master suite. Thank GOD 3 cars, pension, job and own house.
One overweight 10 yr old Chihuahua named spike. She’s female.
One rat terrier nicknamed ‘sir piss a lot” cause he does. Going with son soon hopefully.
Three cats, area 51, winkin and blinkin.
I’ll take ozzy ozbourne and hulk Hogan on for reality tv shows any day of the week. Hands down.
life again and the God thing again...and NO merlot this time.
so, here i sit again. perplexed by life
this whole freakin life thingy has me done in. all done in.
i am not by nature or by education, a stupid person. at least i don't think i am, perhaps i am
i know that right now, i am in sensory overload. it has happened occassionally throughout my life. my response to sensory overload is to shut down
i.e. my last post, which was incomplete. there is more. much more than i was even able to process.
i think that for me, that is the really scarey part
there hasn't been alot in my life that i haven't been able to process. but now i feel rather like a commodore 64 in a pentium world
outclassed
there are things i know that i need to do
i just am not able to do them
1. my daughter the junkie
she needs to grow up. she hasn't. she is scared and not able to really be an adult. it's along story which i don't want to tell, but suffice it to say, she has never really had to live on her own, even when she was married. they started using oxycontins when their oldest child was six months old.
even though i do love her very much, i don't like her anymore. she has hurt our family over and over and over. the impact has been financially and emotionally devestating to our family.
now that she is pregnant and probably has at least stage 3 or stage 3 cancer, how am i going to kick her out of my house.
now there is mother of the year
conflict there.
hubby doesn't want to boot her ass to the curb. he wants to be supportive.
i don't
she is not great with her kids. she was too busy getting heroin to parent effectively.
so hubby and i are raising the two kids.
it isn't working with her here.
i am too tired and so, i take advantage of her being here to let her do some stuff with the kids. then i get frustrated at her lack of parenting and get angry. then i take the anger out on her.
which i shouldn't do.
she thinks i hate her
sort of i do. i hate what she has become. i don't like how she yells at the kids. more than half their issues are because of her. they have only known a junkie for a m om.
that is no way to grow up.
and having two people in the role of mother, me the primary mother and their mom, who gave birth to them, is confusing for them.
too many cooks spoil the pot or one of those aphroisms.
any way, it is confusing for the kids for her to be here.
i don't know how to get her out.
i suggested public housing. i suggested alot of things. emergency housing. but until i can get her out, she will be here. i will probably die from stress before she gets out. then she will be raising the kids.
maybe that is what God wants. i dont' know. but i don't see how having a mom that sucks her thumb, still has her blankie from when she was two years old and has the emotional stability of a two year old is going to be good for those kids.
or having a mom who yells at you and tells you that you are stupid is good.
so i withdraw. i don't want to be here when she is here. so i stay away more and more. then the kids get confused and they start acting out. then i get frustrated and lash out at my hubby. it makes it more awkward. is that how you spell awkward? it doesn't look right.
i have been praying about this alot.
hasn't helped at all. i don't know why it is not helping.
i have a theory about God and prayer.
as long as I am doing what God wants me to do, i have a great life. when i deviate from what i should be doing, things start to go wrong. over and over
and they are very wrong right now.
the cinchy thing is that you have to be able to figure out WHAT it is that God wants you to be doing.
sometimes He makes it easy, sometimes not.
this is definately one of the NOTS
so praying is not working out right now. that is confusing me alot too. plus i am tired. usually when i pray at night, i fall asleep. i think God understands that though, i don't worry too much. but it does leave a lot of unresolved issues for me.
a vacation would probably help. one where you stay at home and clean.
cleaning is cathartic for me, especially when i am in angst as i am now.
if i cannot order my life successfully, at least i can clean my house.
mental health or lack thereof
I am so conflicted right now. There are a myriad of emotions running rampant throughout my body. So many things in my brain, I don’t know how to deal with them or even how to think about them.
My brain is full.
My entire body has hives. All the stuff inside of me has no where to go and it is coming out in these ugly little blotches of anger. They itch.
My hives tend to stay on the top half of my body. Mostly on my back, my shoulders, my neck, my area above my breasts, and in my hair.
The ones on the back and in my hair bother me the most.
There have only been a few times in my life when I have been forced to process this much input.
I have the ability to shut off certain parts of my emotion, selectively as it were.
I don’t call it a skill. I don’t like it much. I don’t think it is particularly helpful. It is however, a survival skill. Without it, or the ability to do IT, I would likely be in a mental hospital having a nervous breakdown.
Right now, a nervous breakdown sounds really good.
my 2nd child is a recovering junkie. (recovering is an absolute term in a non absolute world. I don’t per se know if she is using or not, it doesn’t really matter).
we took custody of her two children away from her November last. They live with us.
she lives with us too, as of right now.
her last rehab was in um….march I think
she is pregnant
the father is an alcolholic
they do not live together
after the birth of her last child, she was diagnosed with pre cancerous cells on her cervix
she was too busy buying heroin to go get it taken care of
now she has a mass growing on her cervix
she may not be able to carry the baby (she is 11 weeks)
she had an appointment at the gyn to have it checked Wednesday last
she was too tired to get up and go she said
she does not have a license
she does not have a car
she does not have a job
she whines a lot
it drives me nuts
I do not want her living here
when she is here, the kids do not act the same
she never abused the kids, but she did neglect them
I have a different view of child abuse than the rest of the world does.
Break.
Child abuse to me is anything that is done without the best interest of the child. I am guilty of it as well at times. Right now in fact. The 6 yr old just walked up and wanted to cuddle. I told her I really needed to finish this and to please go play.
I am not perfect. In fact, I am FAR from perfect.
I want to kick my pregnant daughter with some stage of cancer who is unemployed, can’t drive legally and has no car out on the street.
my son graduated college last month.
he is unemployed.
I gave away his bedroom
he sleeps on the couch
he has made no effort to find a job
he turned down a huge opportunity to have a full partnership in a business in florida
he didn’t want to be too far from his dad and i
I love him a lot
he should have gone to florida
how many boys not even 21 yet get that kind of opportunity
he is afraid to be on his own
he won’t even make a phone call himself
my niece moved up here two days ago
it was her 19th birthday
it was a family matter (she is the only biological child of my older brother with whom I (and she actually) have no contact as he is a bit of an asshole)
it involved another family member
it is really sticky and messy and will NOT be resolved easily or without any anger, hurt etc.
41. she is sharing the room of MY youngest who is 17 and will be a senior next year.
42. the youngest is mine by painless birth as is the son, my husband’s ex wife had them
43. they have lived with us off and on (the son on, the daughter off and on) since the boy was um……5, and then permanently when he was nine or so.
44. I worry about her. She is the princess.
she has issues
I want her to have a great senior year
I don’t like her biological mother
I don’t hate her biological mother
we have different parenting ideas
I can’t afford daycare right now
my husband is disabled and so stays home with the girls
he doesn’t really know a lot of early childhood education thingys
the girls need to have more structure.
I wish I could afford daycare
the girls father got out of prison and got a job and got some girl pregnant.
they had a baby.
the dad started using again
he lost his job
he lost his house
they moved, we don’t know where
he stopped paying child support
that is why I cannot afford daycare
I don’t want to work
I have to work
the girls father got the girl pregnant again
my house needs mommy cleaned
I am the mommy and I am too tired
I have dust on my tables and in my corners
my son’s dog lifts his leg on my very expensive leather furniture
I hate my son’s dog
I want the dog out
my house is only 2 years old
the dog has to go
my husband let’s everyone stay
I don’t like that very much
I don’t worry about my niece, she will find a job and get an apartment.
she as already been on her own
I want my kids to grow up
my husband spent $100 dollars last night on Chinese food
we could not afford that
he also spent 96 dollars on booze.
we don’t really drink.
I do have the occasional glass of merlot
he bought me some merlot
he also bought me a six pack of my favorite beer
I drank one. The bottle of merlot is unopened
he bought vodka for my son
and lots and lots of beer
but not for us
I don’t care that my son drinks occasionally
I don’t want to buy his booze with MY money
we don’t have grocery money now
I am tired
the girls sheets need washed.
they have bunk beds
I hate bunk beds
I want them to have separate rooms
there is someone in the room I want the oldest one to have
there is no where to put all the toys
I am currently reading the rapture by tim lahaye
I have read all the books in the left behind series
I am catholic
it is confusing
I don’t know if I agree with all that is contained in the series
it makes me uncomfortable enough that I am doubting my faith
I don’t think the series is supposed to make you do that
why is this happening
tim lahaye hates catholics
I also read the companion book to the series.
tim lahaye really doesn’t like catholics
I have nothing against tim lahaye
I don’t doubt that the rapture COULD possibly happen
I think it is wrong of people to scare us
if they are right though, they are doing the right thing
but if they are wrong, they are scaring a lot of people unnecessarily
I am one of the people they are scaring
I don’t think God hates catholics
tim lahaye says he doesn’t hate catholics, but if you read between the lines all he does is slam the catholic church
I wish I had a different book to read
our town closed its last book store
I hate the malls
we live too far away and I don’t go to the malls
we cannot buy books in our town
okay, I am done now. That is all the things on my mind this morning. I need to be committed, I really do.
Laptops and more merlot
God loves me. Well SOME of my family loves me anyway. My oldest daughter, my niece and my dear husband were all going in on the latest coolest pda/phone/mp3/windows based thingy for my birthday next week.
so then last night she calls me. they (her and her husband and their daughter, age 5) are at the mall, having spent the day doing fun family things like boating, etc. finishing up at starbucks and some light shopping. my daughter, with hopes of nabbing a 42 inch plasma tv she has had her eye on and hoping her hubby is in a good mood, stops in at compusa.
she doesn't get the plasma tv but she finds a laptop. of course, on clearance. but.
they are out of stock.
so she goes to circuit city, where they ALSO are having a clearance sale. and they have laptops. and she finds one.
now, the phone/pda thingy was going to be slightly over $300.
the laptop she finds is MARKED $649. but has a $150 rebate on it. so she buys it.
the rebate slip won't print out so the manager tells her we will mail it to you.
she goes outside to the car with hubby and baby.
manager comes out. excuse me. we need you to come back in.
"why?"
well, it turns out that THIS particular laptop was somewhat mis marked and there IS no rebate on it. but the manager, who is a very nice and decent guy says
well, let me GIVE you the $150 cash back since it was the STORE's f up....
how wierd is THAT?
and then FURTHER......it turns out the whole thingy was mis marked. the laptop was actually a $799 laptop, NOT on sale, NO rebate.
but they still say, well, we just sold you an $800 laptop that WAS NOT on sale, but was mismarked for $599, then gave you a $150 cash rebate it didn't qualify for, and by the way, have a nice day.
so, i now am the proud and very excited owner of a Toshiba satellite with a 17" screen, and all the fun stuff, wireless of course, and am sitting in my bed, with the pepetual (sometimes it seems) glass of merlot, the kidlets in bed although not exactly asleep, and i am ON THE COMPUTER, ON THE INTERNET.
NOW. i have seen Paul McCartney in concert. I got my laptop. Then today, a package comes in the mail, addressed to me. in the package is a royal blue t-shirt. and on the t-shirt it says
so long, and thanks for all the fish.
i wanted to cry. my favorite author in the universe. a quote from the hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy.
I am wearing the tshirt whilst i sit on the bed, blogging and drinking my merlot
life is wonderful
and God. I wasn't really serious. just because i saw paul finally, and got a laptop. don't take me now. i still have much to do **grin**
dawn
Of drunks, daughters and general bullshit
Daughters, children in general perplex me a lot. I have three daughters. The eldest is 29 in six days. She is the most and the least complicated of all. She is married and her husband adores her. She has the most marvelous daughter. Actually, more like a clone really. In looks anyway. In personality, she is much different than her mother. Which is good. Her mother can get on my last nerve, but she is the most considerate and kind of all the children. She does have her moments, but then so do I.
When I procreated, it was as if I was split. Each of my children, biological or not, ( I have two biological children, two by painless birth) got a bit of me, but DID NOT get the other bits of me.
How weird is that? Now my oldest, she got the sensitive, caring, easily hurt part of me that coats itself in bravado to get through the day. She has layers upon layers, and truly I think no one, including me has penetrated all the layers. I may have come closer than any other living soul, but perhaps not.
My second daughter, the one with the most problems now, she got the intelligent, smart ass, (well, they ALL got a bit of that part of me actually), REALLY STUPID part of me. The rebellious part of me. The “I have to live it to know it” part of me. I feel bad for her. Sometimes. Other times, I hate her. But it is like hating myself when I do.
My son, he is the most stubborn soul on earth. An example. When he was about um…15 or so, he had to mow the back yard. Our yard was about 40 x 100. fenced.
He would start out on the OUTSIDE of the area. With the discharge chute pointed to the INSIDE of the area. So the grass that was cut was being thrust out with force AGAINST THE GRASS THAT WAS NOT CUT.
Now any SANE person would have figured this out all by themselves. Not him. I told him. He ignored me. When he was through, the yard looked like crap. So, me, being me, told him to go and mow it all over again. Which he did. With an attitude. The SAME way. And it looked like shit again. So I told him to go and do it again. Which he did, with an attitude, the SAME way….(can you see where this is going?)
Finally, my husband and him got in a fight, I intervened, and my husband went out and did it. I didn’t want him to. For a lot of reasons. Firstly, he is crippled and fat. So, he hurts and the heart attack he didn’t have could have killed him. Not to mention that his blood pressure was probably sky high from the argument.
But also because my son learned nothing. And I felt that if I had made him go out and mow it six or seven times until I was satisfied, and it happened week after week, WITHOUT me correcting his mowing, just letting him know what my expectations were, and holding him TO those expectations, eventually (he happens to be quite intelligent, actually, they all are, just stupid at the same time in different ways – oh. Wait, that is called children.) well, anyway, eventually, he would have figured it out.
But alas, for my husband’s temper, it never got to that point. Today my son is almost 21. and he STILL hasn’t learned that lesson. And he NEEDED to learn that lesson when he was 15.
Best laid plans of mice and men are oft to go astray.
My last child, the baby. She gets the most, manipulates the most is the most spoiled and thinks she gets away with all of it. But she doesn’t. fact is, I do have her number.
Right now, she lives with her biological mother. (my husband’s ex wife). And she plays games with all of us. I know that about her, and love her anyway. She has grown up with two mom’s. that isn’t easy for anyone. And, she grew up with asking a parent for something, being told no for good and regular reasons, and just simply went down the parental/grandparental line until she got a yes. And, she still does it. Over and over again.
The day will come when it will all blow up in her face. She has hurt me more deeply than any other child of mine (well, except for the 2nd daughter – actually, they are about even there) and doesn’t even know it. Safely I say that, because I don’t think she reads my blogs, only my oldest and my niece do. And they are old enough to deal with it.
The second daughter, she is the junkie whose children my husband and I went to court and took off her. She lives with us now, clean. For how long I don’t know. She is pregnant to the drunk.
He got the shit kicked out of him last night. Literally. By four guys. He is now missing teeth, most noticeably the two front ones. He is 33 years old. Now.
You’d THINK,. (but you’d be wrong) that someone 33 years old would know enough to not get drunk and run his mouth in a bar. NOPE.
So he calls us at 2:30 am drunk, hurt, crying and of course, we, being the humane and caring IDIOTS that we are, dear husband gets out of bed, gets dressed and drives through a massive rain storm where there is literally six inches of water on the interstate, drives 45 MILES TO GO into town and get this idiot. The idiot is standing at the prearranged spot, a gas station. and, he is holding the handle part of a DIESEL fuel pump up to his ear, talking to it. talking to someone on it. (i would love to know what the OTHER end of the conversation was...) the cops are there. this is our old town which we moved from two years ago. fortunately for the drunk, the cops all know my husband, which is why the drunk did NOT go to jail.
Who is right now sleeping off the drunk in the bedroom, bleeding on the pillow of his pregnant girlfriend, my daughter the recovering junkie.
How bizarre a life do we lead?
This is SO not what I expected.
I think i need to go on Oprah and let the world know that all this happens to anyone.
I am very confused.
I saw a coffee cup once. I should have bought it right then, but I was on my way out of the pharmacy in a big hurry. Have you ever noticed how MUCH of important things we MISS cause we are in a hurry?
The coffee cup said.
LIFE – it is NOT like the brochure.
How profound.
