Someday We Will Understand

I sit here reviewing the last draft of my book before it goes into production and still wonder how and why we have a story to tell. Honestly, I will never know the answer…so I will not waste any more energy on it.

Our 13-year-old daughter was sitting on my lap just moments before in tears again missing the life she once had. Telling me how alone she feels. Her experience not well understood…terrifying…and lonely. She is right. I am always at a loss despite a willingness to move mountains.

But there is one thing I can do…I can share her story. Someday maybe she will read it. In the meantime, I hope others will…for our daughter and for all the other children, adolescents and families that courageously live with mental illness. Not understanding is really not okay or even acceptable anymore. They need us to understand. It is only when we finally understand and get out of the way of the care and resources that are needed will our children/our society/our future have a fighting chance. Insurance recently denied our daughter the highest and best chance we could give her…twice. And we wonder why so many of us…and our society struggles…I no longer wonder - it is painfully obvious. Our family lives it.

The best chance I can give our daughter and so many like her…is sharing her story with the hope that maybe someday I can tell her “we do understand”.