Moving on with the Dirt

There are times when it's really hard to fight for yourself when it comes to mental illness. One of these times for me was when I was fighting for my children. I had been going through a rather wicked manic phase that ended with my considering overdosing on some prescription medication. Nick walked in on me with the pills in my hand - I was ready to put them back in the container. He wrestled the pills out of my hand. We got into a huge fight. The police were called. Statements were taken, but I didn't give my statement. This was 16 years ago. Back then, the police didn't pay attention to the word of a mentally ill person. I didn't feel it was worth it to give my side of the story. I was taken to a state mental hospital and spent about three weeks there. When I got out of the hospital, I went to live in a halfway house. Nick filed for divorce while I was there. (To be fair, when I was in court, I screamed from the stand I wanted a divorce.) One of the items in the divor...

I have practically nothing to say this week - no words of wisdom, no entertaining stories to tell. Instead, I've picked out some of my favorite pictures since moving here almost three years ago, and I'm going to put captions to them. January 17, 2019 - My kids (minus Matthew) and my sister-in-law's kids. This was at a joint birthday party for Bryan and Grandpa. It's not very often we get a picture of the cousins together. May 10, 2019 - Matthew put a No Smoking sign on the deck doors, right where I go out to smoke. July 8, 2019 - The love Tea has for her little brother will never be matched. July 21, 2019 - This frog traveled everywhere with my sister Holly and I. It became severely faded by the sun. Sadly, it got lost and never traveled again. August 12, 2019 - My mommy and me at the Tall Ships. December 11, 2019 - Everyone seems to think Mom is open 24 hours. I don't think I've ever contradicted them. February 17, 2020 - Rose heads that had drooped from the bo...