So what about having a day? The last month or so I began to question what I am doing (as far as the blog is concerned) and whether it is something I should keep going. I haven’t written anything to post since June when writing about PTSD. I felt those two posts had purpose – to share about PTSD. By sharing my memories, my intent was to share hope about overcoming. But now what? That was a tough month because of the subject matter as well as another writing task concerning my Dad. So June and July were tough emotionally for those reasons as well…
PTSD Awareness – Continued
This is a continuation from and conclusion to my last post PTSD Awareness Month. As I mentioned there, I wrote the reflection in 1993 and this is the rest of that writing. I repeat the last paragraph from the previous post to connect the two: As I grew up, the mystery of Vietnam continued to grow in my mind as explanations for Dad’s changed behavior never surfaced. Dad drank heavily during the rest of my childhood. I instinctively never approached him about anything, let alone ask him why he was so different from the man I had known before he left for Vietnam. So I…
PTSD Awareness Month
June is PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) Awareness Month. A recent Facebook post on June 1 by a former student/now English teacher, Veronica Echols Garcia shows a picture of her late brother. Roni (as I called her when she was my student) shared that she will post a picture of him every day during the month of June. She wrote, “I am going to call out a military member I know and ask you to check on one of your battle buddies who has been on your mind.” Her first call out was to her husband asking him to reach out to someone he deployed with…
Mother Moments – As I Recall
I had planned to work on and finish this post last Sunday (Mother’s Day), and get it published the next day, but instead, I spent the day as a mother should on such a day, and that is with my family. Consequently, I was thinking about just nixing this one, but I began revising and decided to go ahead and post it. These are but some brief moments I recall of being a mother. Being a mother doesn’t happen just one day a year, so here are some of my memories and special moments of… Being a Mother As babies so sweet, beautiful, and needing…
Twenty-Five Years Ago This Month
Twenty-five years is a long time. A quarter of a century. Having twenty-five years with a beautiful, sweet daughter is something to appreciate. Twenty-five years ago this month, my youngest daughter was born. The day she was born, I had labored all night and went to the hospital the following morning. Being my second birthing experience, I was much more at ease in knowing when to go. By 10:35 a.m. I held my sweet baby girl in my arms. When my oldest daughter was born, my Mom was my only family nearby. When my youngest was born, many family members lived close to us. My…