Lying, Tubing and Cutting

All things are going well at home. The kids are all out of school and all are now official “High Schoolers”. Oh joy! LOL

Kayla has a job and is doing well with it. We are still running into things that Kayla does to get herself into trouble. She has an appointment next week with the psychiatrist and I will make sure to bring it up then. The ‘things’ now are mainly still the lying. For example, a couple weeks ago she had not yet called to say she was done working. It was 11 pm and I figured she HAD to be done by now. I get in my car and drive to pick her up, only to find her sitting in the dining area with some guy who worked there. She had “that face” when I opened the door and saw her. She was there with 5 or 6 other employees so it wasn’t like she was going to get in trouble for where she was or what she was doing. But her face told me everything… it told me that she was doing something she knew she should not be doing. “He’s just a guy I work with” she kept saying. Rrrrrrright.

The very next day she broke up with her boyfriend. She tells him “let’s just stop going out for the next 4 to 5 days, then we’ll get back together”. WHO dumps someone for 4 or 5 days???? I knew – we ALL knew – she was breaking up with him, but trying to make it ‘not hurt’. I knew it HAD to be this new guy. She usually doesn’t break up with someone unless she has someone else ‘in the wings’, ya know? But she insisted that it was just a temporary thing. Rrrrrrrrright.

Couple of days later, Kayla is ‘at the park’ with a girl friend of hers. She calls on some cell phone to say she is on her way home. More than an hour later, still no Kayla and so Chris and I went to pick her up. We find her there, just getting ready to leave, nobody else with her. We ask her about her friend, to which Kayla replies “she just left”. Chris and I immediately knew she was lying. Don’t know how… we just ‘knew’. We press her for more information: “whose cell phone did you use”. She says it belonged to her girl friend’s brother. “So, if we call, we’ll get this girl’s brother, right?” Kayla said that she assumed so, never really believing we’d call – but we did. A guy answers. Chris is his name. “Were you just at the park with Kayla?” He responds “Yes.” “Are you her friend’s brother?” He responds “No.” Then, the question I just knew had to be the key to the whole thing: “Do you work with Kayla at Taco Bell/KFC?” “Yes” he responds. I KNEW IT! It was this SAME guy she was sitting with the week before. She snuck off to see him at the park, then LIED through her teeth about it.

Why lie? Why not have him come over and meet us? Why not ask if you can go to the park to meet him? Why must she lie ALL the time?

Today I get home for lunch and see a coke can sitting in the middle of the driveway. I knew Kayla had left it there. It looks like a spot where she would sit out with her friends who she knows can’t come into the house when we are not home. Sure enough, she was there (and had just left but came back) with her new work boyfriend, Chris. While I'm at home for lunch, she sits outside and talks to Chris. Then when I'm leaving she asks if her friend Suzanna can come over as long as she stays outside. Well… why does she feel she has to ask for Suzanna and NOT for her boyfriend??? It makes no logical sense and I’ve got to talk to her about that tonight.

Everyone else is doing just fine. Their Grandma Gwen bought them tickets to go to Busch Gardens for the year… which will be WONDERFUL this summer. I need to keep them busy this summer any way I can.

Julie is not doing so well. She is very depressed… her car is broken down in South Tampa – she is out in Riverview. She believes that the car is still under manufacturer warranty and needs to tow the car from where it is in South Tampa to the dealership. But she has to be with the car at the time. She has no friends… nobody with a vehicle that can drive her. It’s sad really. I feel bad for her, but also know that I couldn’t possibly help her either. I asked about neighbors/friends that may live around her, and she says she has none. I know she’s had guy friends over there in the past, but they were all “thugs” if ya know what I mean. So… she’s really stuck. I really can’t imagine being in THAT bad of a place. At first, in talking to her, I explained about how stuck we were when she was in the hospital, on the respirator, and Chris had the car accident and we were stuck with no car in which we could use to get over to see her. But – I have friends whom I can call and ask favors such as this. Indeed I did borrow a van to come and see her for a couple of days when she was out there and we didn’t have a car. Imagine being that far removed from everything and everyone where there is nobody you can ask. Sad. I feel really sad for her, yet I realize that these kinds of relationships develop over time and because of time and effort put into them. Sigh………..

So… this weekend! There were 19 of us who all went to Rainbow Springs for the day on Monday. We drove up, put our floats in at the KP hole, and floated down the river all day in our tubes. With 19 of us, it truly took F-O-R-E-V-E-R. We needed about an hour or so when we got to the starting point to blow up rafts and get everyone together. We put in and tied together with 50 ft plus of rope. By the time we got out, waited for a shuttle and got everyone in the car, it was about 3 pm.

Our last trip to Rainbow Springs was not so good, and I must admit I hesitated before agreeing to go this time. Last time we went all of the following horrible things happened:
* Amanda’s boyfriend lost his car keys in the river. AAA didn’t show up until 1 am to help him.
* Amanda’s boyfriend got 2nd degree burns all over from the sun.
* Amanda wrecked our Durango, backing into some guy in a parking lot.
* Amanda was out $400 cash for hitting the guy in the parking lot. (Thank goodness Papa Jimmie was there with her to help her deal with the guy and to float her the loan)
* Evie and Jimmie came up and got pretty ill while there and had to leave in the middle of the night (we were camping)
* Upon getting out of the river, hearing that Ron had passed away.
It was just a HORRIBLE trip. Good things happened as well: Jono bought the most amazing jewelry for his Nana… the river was just gorgeous… but the bad things that happened overshadowed anything good that I can remember.

This time everything went very well. We had a couple of instances of bad things happen this time… my sister Katie – who is pregnant – grabbed into a tree while floating down the river and hit a wasp nest. She was stung at least 5 times… her hands looked like “Shrek” hands – swollen beyond belief. Oh, and BOTH hands – poor thing. Then Kayla got very sick when we were waiting to be picked up after getting out of the river. We assumed a 4 or 5 hour trip, we could go without food. But… we didn’t eat breakfast (got up at 6 am), were on the river through lunch, and it was now after 3 pm – sun and exhaustion had taken its toll on poor Kayla. First she felt nauseous, then she felt dizzy. Charmaine and I both knew what was going to happen and sure enough, Kayla said “Auntie Tina, I don’t feel so….” then PLOP and went limp in my arms as I held her. She passed out. We gave her some juice we had taken down the river… not too much so she wouldn’t vomit, but enough to get her sugar back up a little. When Chris arrived with the car, Kayte was beginning to show the same symptoms… we got food quickly into both of them and they were fine afterwards. Thank goodness! Then, as we were ending our day I came down with some kind of allergy attack that is still with me. Throughout the day I could feel my sinuses getting bad, but assumed it was that ‘nasal spray addiction’ issue. No biggie. By late afternoon my throat felt like it was on fire and my head was completely stopped up, miserably so. My head felt like it was twice its normal size and I couldn’t catch my breath I was so congested. Right now Advil, Sudafed and DayQuil are my friends! But I still have a horrible headache. It’s got to be a sinus headache… although being in a cool dark room helps which would make me think migraine. Maybe a mix of both I suppose. Anyways………

An AWESOME time was had by all. We went from the KP Hole area (where you put your tubes in the river) to the actual state park. It cost only $1 to get in… and you can bring food/coolers/etc… even pets on a leash! Such a deal!! We all gathered on a hill under a big tree in the shade overlooking the beautiful swimming area and river. There we made lunch and then sat and talked for a while. We went to see the waterfalls and were then too exhausted to do any more… so we left, getting home after 8 pm. Just an amazing day. :o)

Julie just called.

Sigh…. Things are REALLY not going well for her. She is depressed and today she cut herself. This is the first time in over a year she's cut herself. I told her that she should call her new psychiatrist and tell her. Maybe she’ll want to change up some of her medications, maybe she’d want to see her sooner, maybe she’d just appreciate knowing… but that I felt she should call the doctor. Fifteen minutes later she calls me back and says, in a hushed and sarcastic voice: “Thanks a lot for telling me to call the doctor, the police are now at my door.” WHAT?!?!

Apparently the doctor got worried about Julie and felt she needed to call the police. They are there for one of two reasons: 1) they just want to make sure she is okay or 2) they are going to baker’s act her. Julie immediately assumed the latter and refused to answer the door. She’s hiding in her house as I type this, afraid they are going to come and get her. Sigh……. Just so SAD.

John (my mom’s husband) just came from her house. He picked up her key for her car and is going to take care of getting her car towed to the dealer (which is a whole other long story). He told me that Julie told him earlier today that her car being broken is “the worst thing that has ever happened to her”. That – in a nutshell – tells you her warped sense of mind. She went through a LOT growing up, her husband being diagnosed with Leukemia and then dying, her children being taken away by DCF…. And her car being broke down is the worst thing ever? Huh????

I'm still not feeling all that well and am going to run. Please say a prayer for Julie. Thanks.

BELIEVE WHILE OTHERS ... by William Arthur Ward
Believe while others are doubting.
Plan while others are playing.
Study while others are sleeping.
Decide while others are delaying.
Prepare while others are daydreaming.
Begin while others are procrastinating.
Work while others are wishing.
Save while others are wasting.
Listen while others are talking.
Smile while others are frowning.
Commend while others are criticizing.
Persist while others are quitting.