It was the day after Easter, and much of my family had come to spend Easter weekend with us. We were living in the inner city back then. On that Monday morning, we journeyed to a court room, where surrounded by family and friends, we completed a journey that had begun over 5 years earlier. Daughter's adoption was finalized. Following the adoption, we went to a small restaurant where friends and colleagues joined in our celebration as we ate brunch together. There was a large sheet cake with her name on it and a rainbow in the background. She fell in love with rainbows after I explained that the rainbow was a sign of God's promise never to give up on us. She was in the first grade, and I had big dreams for her. Within a year, she would begin having psychotic episodes. I'm glad I didn't know what was coming.
With her cycling into mania, it was hard to celebrate yesterday. Right now she has a hair trigger. All I have to do is breathe wrong to set her off. This morning we went and got her blood drawn for Psychiatrist. After breakfast at Cracker Barrel we went to Sam's Club. She is now pouting on the couch in the living room. She's warned me to stay away from her. I'm going to leave her alone, at least for now.
Even with all the challenges, I'm glad I adopted her. I'm grateful for all that she has added to my life (maybe not all the stress). I have learned and grown tremendously because I am her parent. I think I'll go back in coming posts and remember some of our journey to adoption day. I still celebrate the day, even when she is not able because of her mental illness. Hopefully Monday Psychiatrist will make the adjustments to her meds that will pull her down from the current mania.
2 comments:
I find anniversary days so stressful.
We are heading into our season of you-know-what in a week or two.
Fasten your seat belts.
I hadn't thought about how some of the current challenges are related to the anniversary junk. Thanks for the reminder, and good luck navigating the mine field.
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