Words Can Hurt or They Can Heal

It was a regular day. We stopped in for dinner with my son, expecting to stay for a group session. He was visibly surprised to see us. I was happy to be there. My husband was out of town that week, which meant I was more inclined to bring our other son along for some moral support. It's a fine line, this thing with my younger boy, knowing how prone he is to feeling like he needs to support and protect others, but yet not constantly putting him situations where he will feel the need to protect ME. 

I brought him mostly because his involvement in his brothers recovery is important. I had no idea how important he would be for MY recovery until an hour later. 

Dinner was pretty basic, and cleanup seemed to take forever, so we escaped to the living room, as is common for visiting families to do. Typically we get a little privacy to visit, but that wasn't happening this time. We were sharing the room with another client who was half-heartedly reading his book between making comments to us. 

Talking to my son seemed arduous. He wasn't willing to make normal conversation, and I have to be very careful how I place my words. I can't say normal things, like, "Hey, how are you feeling today?" The answer is always the same: "shitty." I try to ask leading questions, but typically get only a little ways before he decides to say something to upset me or ask when I'm getting him out of there. 

I'm used to hearing upsetting things. I'm sure I can say that with 100% certainly that I could relate on some level to a mother of a Tourette's child. The kind that words burst forth before they can be stopped. Words that are foul, startling and offensive. I've heard them all, so I have much practice in remaining unphased when these words burst forth from my otherwise gentle child. 

I know he wants a reaction, and it bothers him to get none. I continue on, asking questions and offering comments. I was not pleased to learn that he had been issued FIVE referrals. And on just that single day. He seemed proud to announce that to me. Something was not right. The Sunday prior, I picked him up on a day pass, which was part of our plan for integrating him back in to the household. He's had three. The other part of the plan is that he remain free of referrals. He can't go out on pass with referrals, especially the kind that he gets for intentionally causing problems. His next pass was to be his first overnight, and a day at the beach. He was clearly not going to get that pass. We were clearly not going to go with him to the beach. This sets us back yet another week. 

Everyone's ultimate goal is for our son to exit treatment as a healthier, stronger person. I'm certain his goal is to just leave. The fact that he continues to sabotage the whole process makes me really believe that we've got lots more work to do. He seems entrenched in a depression and its clouding his progress and his self-worth. 

I am fairly sure that it was about the time I said that we really needed him to keep himself in check so that he could come home, that he expressed for the first time, that he'd rather just stay there. I'm also fairly certain that the fracturing of my heart was audible. He wasn't asking to come home, he was just asking to get out. 

Through emotions held back by the Hoover Dam, I asked for clarification. He expressed that things at home still pretty much suck, and that people still argue, so he'd rather be where he's at than at home. "Nobody has changed anything", he said. "People still yell, my room is still messy. You aren't supporting me at all." 

Oh my dear boy, how wrong you are. There has been significant change at home, but he has not witnessed it. What's unfortunate, is that the only times he IS home, is when it's very stressful because he acts out the entire time. No wonder he believes nobody else has changed, because he won't. We are a loud family, yet we've all taken steps to lower the volume because he's so sensitive to it. We're loud when we're happy and loud when we're mad. This family is taking responsibility for things like never before. We are owning up to mistakes made, making amends, offering forgiveness. It's actually been great - but now he's really causing me to believe it's not enough. That we are not enough. I mentioned that to him, but he couldn't see it. So cloudy, this murky fog. It's sucking me right in. 

The moment I realized that I needed to leave crept in and over me before I could even properly verbalize it. The attitude, the lack of effort, the broken promises... I just stood up. I couldn't face this for one more second. I felt disgusted. I was not going to get emotional, because this battle was simply about that. How soon could he tear me down and make me feel just like him? Well it wasn't happening today. I looked at my younger boy, who had been trying so hard not to punch his brother in the face, and I told him we were leaving. That I wasn't going to agree to listen to these untruths any longer. 

Both boys looked very puzzled. I mean you can't just leave before group session. I ushered my youngest out the door to the foyer, then looked back to a pained look on my hurting boy's face that cut me like a knife. "Well BYE then", he said as he tried to keep his own composure. "Bye Son, I'll see you in a few days."

I was halfway to the car before the tears forced themselves out of my eyes. I'm familiar with this, I know the routine. Time to assume the look: The Mom, leaving the rehab facility that is holding her precious boy, shoulders slumped in defeat, hands shaky from adrenaline, tears free falling, sunglasses up! Keys in hand! Car open, get in, close the door and let it all go. Except this time I couldn't.

Why God chose to bless my youngest with the ability to sense discomfort and to bring forth wise words, words beyond his years, I will never know. But the fact that He did, is a great blessing to

Me. My boy didn't wait. He was telling me it was ok to feel upset even before I got the door closed. I was holding back so many more tears that I thought I might choke on them. How can I turn this into a positive?? I kept thinking. 

"Mom, you know, it's ok at home right? It's not us. What's going on here, is that satan is trying to get at you right now. He is getting at you through those things my brother says. He doesn't really mean those things, it's all the devil." 

How on earth could I feel defeated even one more second? The kid was right, he IS right. To hell with you, satan. No, really. Just go.

I let the tears fall as I acknowledged the beautiful truth of my sons words. I was crying because I was sad, I was proud, I was hurt, but I was healing. We positively enjoyed the best scoop of ice cream ever that evening. 

Made it to a Month

He's been in for a month. I was pretty sure we'd  never get to this day, so I'm actually really impressed. I'm impressed with him, and I'm even more impressed with myself. I literally can't count how many times I've been asked to rescue him from this. To take the burden off, to eliminate the consequence. There have been a lot of "two steps forward, one step back" things going on. But honestly, a lot of the time it feels more like two steps backwards before we get one step forward. I guess sometimes that's how it has to be.

Progress isn't always a forward motion. Sometimes I feel like I'm on a swing. One of those big wooden swings hanging under a tree. The kind with big ropes and a mud puddle underneath. Just when I feel like I'm getting some height and enjoying the ride, I look waaaay up to seek the sunshine through the branches, but I swing too high, flip backwards and land face-first in the puddle. It sucks. It's messy. Really messy. I don't just land... I splat. My clothes get dirty, my mouth gets full of nasty stuff, the wind gets knocked out of me and my eyes burn with tears from the suddent jolt of pain.

Having conversations with  my son is like that. I feel like we're getting somewhere, I feel like there is clarification, there are some answers, then SPLAT. I'm knocked right onto my face. I don't always see it coming, even though I feel pretty stupid that I should by now. Always optomistic. Always getting hurt. I guess that's better than always being pessimistic and then never getting hurt - because seriously that just means I'd be hurting everyone else and not really paying attention.

I'm thankful that I have a heart.
I'm glad that I'm going through this stuff. Really, truly, honestly thankful.
I'm happy that my family wants to be better at being a family.
I appreciate advice from others who have walked this path.
I've even apprecated advice from those who haven't. Especially the ones that tell me they have no clue what I'm going through, but they are willing to walk alongside me and wipe my tears as we go.
Wow, that's seriously the best thing ever.

Sometimes, though, people say things that really stink. My job as a Mom gets called into question:

Maybe you're not trying hard enough.
Maybe you're not saying the right things.
Maybe you're not HEARING.
Maybe you need to try to rid yourself of this burden.
Maybe you need to pass it off to someone else. 

Maybe, just maybe, I'm doing the best that I can, with the skills that I have and the guidance that I've been seeking? Maybe you well-meaning critics should should seriously stop expecting me to doubt myself right now? Maybe I'm doing ok, and this is just the way it's going to go to get to where we need to be? Maybe it's not a BAD thing to go through this stuff, to persevere, to learn and grow? I don't want to take shortcuts. I really believe there aren't any.

I'm ok. Dealing with a "problem" child is what Mom's do. Mom's don't just give up. Mom's learn to cope. Mom's just try everything possible, and when there's nothing left to try, they keep praying.

We just keep praying. 

Three Weeks One Step

TODAY was the first day we've had what felt like a good step forward in his treatment. It was also our first official family session with his counselor, as opposed to the multitude of group sessions we've attended with several other clients & families. 

He was open about his feelings, as best as he could be, and is appearing to begin to see how much destruction he has caused just by separating himself from his problems with substances or distance. I'm fully prepared for there to be several steps backwards, before we get a lot further along, but today was a really big thing, and I'm hoping that the momentum continues.

He has learned that it's ok to say what hurts him, and that we will not choose to get offended or to overreact. He has learned that just because people don't want to talk to him, it doesn't mean that HE has a problem or that he's a reject. He has learned that people who really care, will get all up in his business because he's totally worth it. He verbalized that getting things doesn't make him feel loved, but spending time and feeling heard sure does. He identified being positively affirmed as a really strong need. He has learned that the reason I won't engage in his verbal lashings is not because I don't care, or am afraid of him or I'm weak, but because I have boundaries and he needs to respect them before we can talk constructively or positively (and also before he can transition back into our home). He is beginning to want to earn trust back, and expresses a desire for honest, yet gentle, communication.

All of these things are huge for him, and for us. He was willing to listen while I validated his very real and legitimate feelings, and then while we explained some of the reasons why it was so hard to communicate with him in the past. We talked about the fun things we want to do, and what we missed about him not being at home. He was also willing to speak up to everyone at the group session tonight and they all applauded him for taking a step towards getting serious about his recovery. He was pretty much beaming. I'm so proud of him (and yes, he heard me say that at least three times.)

 This has been the hardest and longest three weeks of my life (and his as well).

Hoping the next update is as good if not better.

Two Weeks

I lied. I didn't write about his intake. It's because it pretty much sucked and I was too tired, too sad, to write about it. Nothing can prepare a parent for that. I can't remember ever crying that much in one week, except for the time his father abandoned us. 

He ran away just a few days in. It scared me a lot. I burst into tears when I got the news at work, on a school bus. The other driver just came over and stood there looking at me. Get the hell out of my face. You have no clue how much my heart is breaking, and I can't stand trying to explain it to people who think they know everything.

He was found right away (what can I say, we've had plenty of practice tracking him down?) We went to Taco Bell and then talked in the car for three hours. 

A week later, he ran away again. This time i was ready for it. I got really mad. I set alarms on our doors, and left town for a day to drink a margarita and enjoy a night out with the Girls. 

He showed up late at night, after being missing for 24 hours. I was still away. He did it that way so nobody would take him right back. He had also used again. Time to restart the clock. 

He slept in the bottom bunk in his sister's room that night. When I got home, I knelt down, brushed his hair out of his face and hugged him while he was asleep. He awoke and hugged me back so hard I could barely breathe. 

I'm glad you're here, I whispered. 

Me too, he said. 

He went to church with us the next morning, then we returned him that afternoon with no promises of anything, only expectations spelled out for him. It was pretty rough. 

It wasn't as rough, however, as the next time I was able to take him to church. On the way home he spit out foul words, expressing how pathetically weak he believed I was. "A F---ing weak Mother", to be exact. It stung. It stung hard. I bit my lip to keep the tears inside. I wouldn't engage. This just made him furious. 

He needs me to be weak, it's the only way he can get out of here unscathed. He needs me to crumble, and rescue him. 

Nope. Not happening. I love him too much. 

More vile words, more threats, more seething anger spilling out of this child's mouth. It's not me. It's not me. I had to repeat it over and over. I hugged him goodbye anyway. He said he was really sorry for what he'd said earlier. 

I forgive you. See you in a couple days.