This was not an easy post to write. It was even harder to hit the publish button. But when I decided to put myself out there, I did it with the intention of letting others know they are not alone in their journeys. This is one snapshot of mine.
I’ve said before that depression is much like an old lover. One you’ve successfully managed to get out the door – along with all of his things – and begin a new life. A life in which laundry gets done, friends get visited, lists get checked off, balanced meals get cooked, and the things you enjoy get enjoyed. But something or a lot of things happen. Usually in succession and often involving sleep loss, grief, financial or marital stress, etc. — and, under the weight of exhaustion, your resolve weakens. That’s when he comes looking for you. Whispering in your ear. Telling you all your efforts are futile. Crooning the familiar songs he sang to you before. Knock, knock, knocking at your door. Until you open it and invite him to come inside — and his seduction is complete. And the next morning –every morning you wake beside him– you know you knew better. But now his clothes are in the closet, his toothbrush beside yours, and he is ingrained into your life once more.
If you read me, you may have noticed you haven’t been reading me much lately. I’ve noticed too. I’ve noticed lots of things. When I do, I race off to WordPress and create a post, give it a title, and even jot down some of the words that are clamoring to be released. But is isn’t long before he begins whispering to me. This post will take a lot of time. Of course, if you write it, you’ll likely infuriate someone and will feel the need to respond. Which will just upset you more than you already are. You’re tired. Tomorrow –you’ll write it tomorrow. Of course, I don’t. It doesn’t get written. Thoughts and emotions keep pounding, and everything just gets louder. From the dishes being unloaded to the dog’s incessant barking to my children — Bronwyn just being five and Callum being a verbal stimmer. It’s all so very loud. And all I want is to sit on a porch overlooking the mountains on a cool early morning and hear…nothing. Nothing but the wind blowing and perhaps a little rain or moving water. No voices. No screaming. No phone ringing. No cacophony of everything I need to take of. To sleep. To read. To write. To recharge. Because I am simply depleted. I attempt to get my head together and manage to accomplish a thing or two. But my constant companion draws me back in to myself. His incessant whispering for me to lighten my load and sit down for a spell. To put it off for another day. To pull the covers over my head and attempt to hold the world back. Yes, he knows how to talk to me.
My heart aches. My fears bully me. And even my bones feel tired.
I’m starting to see the things I feared and knew were coming. I see my sweet little boy, excited by the mere presence of other children — but oblivious to their activities and play. He jumps, laughs, and flaps away — and has no understanding that he isn’t a part of it all. Part of me is grateful he doesn’t yet understand– while the other part of me just hurts. Everywhere we go, we take two cars. There are few things that we can confidently plan as a family. It’s too crowded, too bright, too large, too hot, too long. Too everything. People not seeing the delightful child he really is hurts. His sister having an uneven share of our time and attention hurts. The looks we get hurt. His discomfort hurts the most.
Sometimes the view from this ride is beautiful. Sometimes, it’s fun. But right now it is making me sick. And I just want so very badly to be let off. I want the support of my father, my stepmother, and my grandmother. I want them to tell me it will be okay. But they’re dead. And, every time I get on the highway or have a strange pain, I fear dying myself. Not for me, but because who will take care of him? Who will fight for him? And how – how – do I ensure that his sweet sister will understand that I love her equally though I cannot give of myself to her equally? Some days – or weeks – it’s too much.
And, in my darkest moments, I fear that I am not enough. That I’m doing this all wrong. Making the wrong decisions. Not doing enough. Doing too much.
Yes, I have been to see my doctor. I have taken antidepressants. They helped marginally, but my hair started falling out (a truly unfortunate side effect for a depressed person if ever there was one.) So the doctor and I are trying again with another antidepressant. Trying because there is no other choice. For the alternatives to managing this are unacceptable. My babies need all of me, therefore depression can be allowed none of me. There simply isn’t enough room for him in my house. I’ve told him he must leave. To pack his stuff and get out. Good riddance and all that. So far, he hasn’t budged and has turned into a squatter instead.
But I know something he doesn’t. I know the unconditional love and trust of two children who depend on me. I know the maternal bliss of snuggling against their sleeping forms in the wee hours of the night. And I know that, in this battle between him and me, who I’m really fighting for. In nature, whoever gets between a mother and her young is always at a disadvantage. He’d do well to remember that.
“Now the standard cure for one who is sunk is to consider those in actual destitution or physical suffering—this is an all-weather beatitude for gloom in general and fairly salutary day-time advice for everyone. But at three o’clock in the morning, a forgotten package has the same tragic importance as a death sentence, and the cure doesn’t work—and in a real dark night of the soul it is always three o’clock in the morning, day after day.”
― F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Crack-Up
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I bought a whole new closet. And, since I’d done all that, I went and had my hair colored and highlighted. Then I pulled out my rarely-used-of-late makeup brushes and makeup and dusted them off. And now I know a little how those folks on WNTW feel when they return for their “reveal”. People were thrilled to pieces. My coworkers got excited. My boss was beside herself. And my little girl, who I confess has rarely seen her own mama dress up, was mesmerized and told me I looked beautiful. Another 
“Those numb hauntings come and go; but they always come… and they always go. Hang in there.”
Yesterday, four people stopped to ask if I was okay. Four. I wasn’t sick. I wasn’t crying. And I had even done up my hair and worn makeup — something I get increasingly bad about doing as the school year begins to wind down. And though the question was nothing but kind concern, the expression on their faces was unsettling. Cocking their head and silently taking me in, as if they were seeing something not immediately obvious.
Perhaps it is simply the realization that there is no finish line. It’s the long haul. And my tank – at least today – is empty. Heck, it’s so empty I don’t even have the energy to try to fill it back up. I’m just plain tuckered out mentally. Content to sit in my stranded state and look at all the people passing by.
I’ll be okay. Because I have to be okay. Because these sweet little babies I love require me to be so. The trick, I guess, is to figure out how long you can sit back and decompress before you begin to atrophy. Before melancholy is no longer just an unwelcome visitor continuing to knock on your door — but one whom you invite to come inside and sit down a spell…before never leaving.
Daylight Savings Time, known to our European friends as summer time, was invented for the purpose of extending daylight hours past the end of a normal working day. This, in theory, is supposed to allow one to get a lot more done whilst one can actually see what one is doing. I am one of those folks who actually likes Daylight Savings Time – not because I get any more accomplished, but because I find the immediate darkness of winter a tad depressing.
Contrast that with today’s world. In the course of my day, I arrive to work, observe the bells, teach, discipline, talk to parents, answer the incessantly ringing phone, order books, process books, utilize 4 to 5 completely different databases/software programs, email multiple persons, copy, scan, direct aides, assist teachers, proofread, talk to students, recommend books, and so much more. I have no doubt that most of you experience days similar to mine. All while keeping in the back of your mind who you have to call tonight, what meeting you must attend, which doctor’s appointment to go to, which items you must buy at the grocery store, your child’s band concert, the birthday gift you must order online, the reservations you must make, get an oil change, pick up prescriptions, etc.
In autumn, he will die like a fig,
