You Are Never Far From Me...

In fact, you are on my mind every day. We are dealing with some very difficult cir****tances right now and between all that's going on at home and at work, I can't find a minute to connect with you. I can't go into details right now except to say that my son is in trouble - literally - and we have had to retain a lawyer and are facing a pending court date - he is absolutely innocent of these charges and we are fitghting for him. I refuse to let my son learn the very hard lesson of having to suffer the consequences of others when you tell the truth - not at 12 years old. There's plenty of time to learn the ways of human nature later, but he's too young to have to bear the burden of that reality. Life is out of control; I find myself disoriented and confused at familiar intersections and roads that I have traveled a million times. I simply cannot sleep. The strange thing is I am not thinking about food. In fact, I've lost a bit more weight - literally finding little time to eat, and little desire to think about eating. Sorry to be such a downer - I have not stayed away on purpose, life is just simply out-of-control. In the face of other people's problems, I give humble thanks that I am somehow managing. Love to you all. Reenie

reenie your in my prayers. my youngest son was a problem child. your lucky that your son while goign through some troubles isn't at fault. mine was. he has grown up and now is a great young man. but whew i'd never go back to those days again. there was trouble with the law for him. court. all kinds of nightmares. it was at the worst time in mylife and add to it that i was goign through a diviroce which i'm sure had alot to do with his problems. he was in the wrong and we were there for him as he had to face the things he had done. thank god no one was hurt. he was underage and the judge scared him good. after many hours of comunity service and going to a prole office over and over plus counciling then he grew up! take care your in all of our thoughts. pammy

Reenie, I am so sorry to hear that your family is going through all this. My family had lots of problems with my brother growning up and most of it he actually did. Now he is a fairly well adjusted adult with a wife and family of his own. It was hard to deal with the issues my brother had growing up but I can imagine it must be harder to deal with when the person is innocent. I will keep you in my thoughts and prayers that it all works out ok in the end. Hugs, Leslie

Maureen - I am so sorry to hear that the stressors continue to mount for you. Things haven't been easy in your life, and I pray you will find relief soon. I know it is hard to think about such things in the moment, but I find that taking a deep breath and projecting myself to a point at which the rough times are over helps me to get through them when they're in the here and now. Besides all that, although there are always exceptions for different folks, most of the roughest times in my life I look back on and I can both learn something from it, plus I also realize that some of those rough times put me in line for some of the best times of my life. If the only thing I "get" from such rough times is a deeper understanding of others' problems when I recognize them in the future, then I see a benefit for me. Sometimes out of our hardest times we are able to learn enough to help others. I have no doubt you are that kind of person. Don't feel guilty for not finding time for us. True - you are a major part of our foundation here for us - and I always look to find you posting here, but you have things to take care of and you shouldn't be worried about keeping the board going right now. When you need us to vent, pop in and post away when you have time. If you don't have time, don't worry about it. Just do what you gotta do right now. Take care of yourself and please consider finding a counselor to talk to. If you can eke out an hour a week, you should definitely do it. Don't stretch yourself so thin that you break, my dear. If your family needs you that much now, then you need to take care of you in the process. Dina

Reenie, A big, big hug to you. I've been through hell and high water with my kid and luckily and by the grace of God, we're all still alive and smiling these days. It's only at the age of 21 that my son is so very grateful that I hung in there. He tells me regularly how much he loves me and how thankful he is that I never gave up on him. There have been many times in the last 21 years that I wished I was a guppy and had eaten my young. Hang in there and fight for your kid, Reenie. Take a step back, take a deep breath and tackle life in bite size chunks. I love you huge and I'm here whenever you need me, Connie

I am so sorry you are going through such bad times, and I was hoping to meet up with you on our journey to Boston. I do understand why we couldn't and I'm here for you. Now I am going to give you some "Reenie-isms". Love yourself and take care of yourself. Be healthy. As we all know, you are a survivor. I am so sorry about your son---12 is awfully early to have to face the harsh realities of life. Things will go your way, I know it. Crazy things happen to us as our kids progress from stage to stage. My thoughts and prayers are with you... Joanie