I run a small support group for family members. The following are random comments from
one of our meetings. Perhaps you'll identify with some of them. While trying to help our loved ones, we need help ourselves. (Excerpt from my memoir with permissions.)
Photo Credit: MSJWatson83
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“My child says she’s fine. She won’t see a doctor. She’s forty-five. I can’t make her go. We’re running out of money to assist her.”
“If we turn him out, he’ll be on the street. I can’t live with that.”
“My sister has no boundaries. She’ll tell anyone anything. She’ll tell her social security number if they ask.”
“I’ve lost my other children. They don’t want to be around the chaos.”
“I have one child. I don’t have the experience of a well child.”
“My ill son is living with us. It’s very difficult. I’ve just been through surgery and chemo for ovarian cancer. My husband is developing dementia. I have no support.”
“My daughter got a traffic ticket for reckless driving. They fined her and sentenced her to eighty hours of community service. She doesn’t have the capacity to follow through and find an organization that will let her volunteer for them.”
“I read something that resonated with me. ‘A mother is as happy as her unhappiest child.’”
“My daughter’s illness is fracturing the entire family.”
“It seems like this illness is very self-centered. Everything's about me.”
“I can’t talk about these things anywhere else. People don’t understand.”
"It's such a relief to know I'm not the only one in this kind of situation."