Thorns and Blessings

I just spoke on the phone with Aunt Margo for an hour and 20 minutes, and boy does my ear hurt! But it was SO worth it to hear her warm voice and to share pieces of the puzzle. My goodness. What a puzzle the mentally ill can make of things.

One of the things I didn't know was that in 1978 or 79 my mom took an intentional overdose of sleeping pills, and that's when she was committed to the mental hospital the first time. (Dad says it wasn't enough to kill her but enough to be a cry for help.) I remember her being in what was then called the South Unit of Parkview Hospital. She assembled a pair of leather moccasins for me which I would later wear until they were too small. I'm glad I had no idea at the time that it was a suicide attempt. I'm also glad that she survived. I can only imagine the profound sadness and bewilderment I would've carried all my life if she'd been successful.

Last week I enjoyed lunch and games at Grandma and Grandad Sieber's house with Isaac and Allison. Grandma patiently taught Allison how to play Crazy 8's while Isaac and I played a game. Afterward, while the kids played outside in the little snow there was (especially compared to Wisconsin!) Grandma shared with me the details of an unpleasant development from the day before. She and Grandad had received a summons to appear in Family Court in Louisville, KY in 7 days. My mother filed a petition against her parents listing several charges which are too ludicrous to mention, but which give some insight into her delusions. But I'll save that for another time. When I thought about my elderly grandparents driving all the way down to Louisville to be wrongly maligned by fabrications, I felt indignant. I thought, she's gotta get by me first! Nobody messes with my grandparents! :) I left their house that afternoon with photocopies of their summons (summonses?) and my heavy heart full of prayerful snippets. One sentence prayers are usually all I can manage when it comes to my mother: Lord, help her. Open her eyes. Lord, keep her safe and other people safe from her. Lord, please get her the help she needs. Lord, I don't know what exactly to ask for her, so please just help her.

When I got to Dad and Diane's that night and told them about the summons, they reacted the same way I did. "She did what?? What is she thinking?" (That's always the question, isn't it?)

After I got back to Wisconsin a couple of days later, I thought a lot (ok, worried) about my grandparents and whether they would make the trip, whether they could handle the trip with Grandad's infirmities, and whether they could find a lawyer. I asked some Facebook friends to pray and was touched by the support I got from them and from my Aunt May and Aunt Marilyn on Dad's side. What blessings!

There were more blessings in store when I talked to Aunt Margo this afternoon. The one that almost knocked my socks off had to do with the lawyer. The first guy they tried was uncaring and very nearly rude. The second lawyer was on vacation, but her partner was available. Enter Chris Stewart, lawyer extraordinaire. Aunt Margo was able to get in touch with him almost immediately yesterday and he was very much 'present' and involved. I'm so glad! The court proceedings lasted 25 minutes this morning, which the lawyer will get G&G a videotape of. Omigosh, we'll get to see her on tape. I've been wondering what she looks like now. He said she was nicely dressed, articulate, and well-spoken. Then, the judge, who Aunt Margo praised for being "exceptional," told mom very tactfully that if she wants to leave the past in the past that she should do exactly that. The charges, which were too vague, where dismissed. Or, as Grandma put it, "They threw it out." I liked that. As they should.

In my frustration with Mom I sometimes think of her as a thorn in one's side. At times in my side, but most of the time in the sides of my grandparents. But when Aunt Margo described to me the love she saw in G&G's eyes when they talked about her, their oldest child, I was moved. My grandparents still love her. If only she could grasp that. Bless them, Lord, for their steadfast love.