Since I can’t sleep anyway, and the tornado sirens ensured I didn’t, I might as well use the long dark teatime for something semi-productive.

It’s been a long, difficult week for all of us.  This is not the place to go into details; suffice it to say we’ve had a hard lesson in the hazards of mental healthcare for kids (and adults) in this country.  You want to take your kid’s concerns/plea for help seriously, but once you set foot inside the system, protocols (mostly liability protection) take over and your options are limited to none.  The incarceration makes the crisis worse for the kid (and family), but you have to play along and convince them you’re ok to be released, while you’re being traumatized more.  Not to mention paying the other high costs.

Probably in sympathy with them, the stress is taking physical tolls.  I’ve had a reoccurrence of some vertigo and constant dizziness and other related symptoms.  But I still walk over there and back every day to lend some support and be there for the other kids, so A can go visit the facility and try to get work done in between.  Sometimes it’s almost dark when I walk home, but I don’t mind.  The evenings have been strangely euphoric, almost mystical, with the warm, clear wind and palliative atmosphere.  An unexpected moment of relief after days of worry and exhaustion.  So I guess the tornado scare was to be expected!  A helpful reminder that security is never to be taken for granted!

Anyway, nature goes on, oblivious of our human mishegoss.  It’s like a lighthouse or landmark to keep your bearings.  An asylum, as it were, but not the mental kind.  Maybe without the tornado warnings in the middle of the night.