Emma just called me during her lunch period in tears.
She heard my voice and the tears and way-too-fast-to-understand speech started flowing.
This hasn’t happened in a while and my instinct is still to run to the school, scoop her up, bring her home and let her learn about negotiating socially later.
Instead, when she needed to get off the phone she quickly caught her breath, immediately sounded back to her normal self and hopefully is able to move along without losing any more of her day.
This has the makings of a very long weekend if she isn’t able to move along.
I may have to warm up the, “Sometimes you have to apologize
for the misunderstanding instead of apologizing for what they want an apology
for that you know you didn’t do” speech. She didn’t hear my “Do you know what
it means to be positional?” speech at all.
I don’t even think she recognized how I slid into my “mental health” voice, the tones and cadence I used to use when my clients with severe mental illness were on the edge of escalating.
She is fifteen now and her outbursts have become more rare, but they are still there.
The absolutes gather steam, the hope balloon deflates and she is temporarily tossing about in the sea of teen pain and sorrow deeper than I can recognize right this moment.
None of those standard lines like “Things have a way of working out” or “It will blow over” or “If you just suck it up and apologize it will make your life so much easier” will work right now.
I just have to stay reasonably comfortable until 3:15 when I go fetch her from school and pray that between then and now something – anything – resolves favorably.
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© 2012 by Julie Jordan Scott
This is my fifteenth post (of 31!) for the October Ultimate Blog Challenge.
Watch here for challenge posts which will include Writing Prompts, Writing
Tips and General Life Tips and Essays.
Julie Jordan Scott has been a Life & Creativity Coach, Writer, Facilitator and Teleclass Leader since 1999. She is also an award winning Actor, Director, Artist and Mother Extraordinaire. She was twice the StoryTelling Slam champion in Bakersfield. She leads Writing Camp with JJS & this Summer will be traveling throughout the US to bring this unique, fun filled creative experience to the people wherever she finds the passion & the interest.
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