Thankful for you... and for mental health therapy!

If I were most of you, I’d be wondering if I was ever going to address what happened in 2018. Like, it’s nice that you’re back online (I've been on community control/probation since October 2020 and was not permitted to use social media during that time) and your family is doing well, but what the hell happened?! I get it, and I’ve been trying to figure out the best way to talk to everyone. Some of you have reached out to us and we’ve spent time together. We were able to talk, connect, heal together… But for most of you, I’m that classmate that went crazy. The daughter of a friend, the friend you don’t know how to talk to anymore, the teacher you thought you knew, the colleague that worked down the hall, that neighbor that you saw on the news... Whoever I am to you, you are someone to me too and I’ve missed you.

I have so many apologies, so many thank you’s, so many “Dude, I know, rights!?” to share with everyone and I’m thankful for therapy’s part in getting me to this point. I’m thankful that you’re reading this and that you’re willing to at least ask what the hell happened instead of writing me off completely. Please use the contact me link to send messages, questions, suggestions for posts, if you feel so inclined. Not everyone feels comfortable leaving comments and it's cool, just send a message. Fair warning: If you send me bullshit, I will probably reply with a suggestion that you seek therapy too.

To those wondering, "Are you going to write a book?"

It’s been suggested, and I’ve thought about it, but I just don’t feel like a book could ever fully capture the lessons I continue to learn on a daily basis! I have a parked website domain (you found it, yay!) and want to write blog posts that share things I wish I'd known as a teacher about families with incarcerated parents, mental health break stories that we can laugh about/learn from now, experiences in rehab and psych wards, stories about who I met in jail, prison, and so much more.

But, I also want to open it to others to share their stories. I want it to be a blog of support for people struggling with addiction, a place to read about the journey of others and hopefully a source of positivity. I don’t want to, and won’t, talk about the actual offense, victim, their family, etc., because that’s not my part of the story. That doesn’t mean that I haven’t spent these past years processed those feelings, that I am attempting to diminish the impact on them, or that I am ignoring the fact that significant damage was done to another person and their family too. That’s kinda what the hold up has been…

My choices and actions hurt an entire community of people and I owe everyone the opportunity to learn from my experiences. Being me is the only way I know how to be and I continue to encourage everyone else to Be you, and See why.