Tina's Daily Blog: Life Is What You Make Of It

Monday, June 04, 2007

Life Is What You Make Of It

I should probably apologize now for not being able to blog much in the recent past and in the near future. I can't really go into it... but suffice to say that there are a LOT of things going on right now and I could use prayer VERY much right now. I can't get into the details of 'why' but - you know me - blabbermouth on my blog, if I can't say something here in the blog, there HAS to be a good reason for it. And when and if you finally hear of it, you will wonder how on earth I was able to deal with it all this time. And I'll tell you it was your prayers - prayers for strength and guidance for me through something you don't even know about. But thank you for your prayers.

Okay... other happenings....

I called the flipping Social Security office today to check on the status of the payment they owe the kids from last year. They told me that they had it on "backlog" and it might be three months or more before we'll see any money. I might pause here and mention how very much we NEED that money for things, very important things. Not that Social Security cares.

The woman tells me that "it's in a pile of papers on someone's desk and when they get to it, they will get to it." Literally, that's what she said. Actually - two people told me that from Social Security... one from the local office and one from the main number (I called back and talked to a supervisor who told me the same thing). I asked... "how is it that you (SS) can hold onto all the money you owe these kids... money that THEY should have started getting 18 months ago now, and yet your office treat this so......... casually?" She just said that it is the way it is. I asked if they would be getting interest on the money due and she actually LAUGHED out loud on that one. "Social Security", she says, "doesn't pay interest." Yeah, I see lady, they just hold on to a few thousand dollars they owe kids and pay them back... I dunno... when they feel like getting to it.

Yeah... another stellar example of our government at work.

So here is a question I never had to ask myself with Amanda. At what age do you let your teen find out for themselves how incredibly dangerous something is. I mean, let them find out the hard way. With Amanda it was minor things here and there... with Julie's kids - it's just bigger things because they hand out with different people. Kayte took a call today from a girl we really like. She's a SUPER girl and a very nice friend - we like her a lot! But her older brother is bad news: we're talking drugs/gangs/stealing things. Kayte gets a call that her brother just beat her up and she wants Kayte to come over. Kayte thought to call and 'ask' permission when she was almost there. My first thought was SAFETY! Was he still there? Is he coming back? Is their mother home? The answer to all three of those questions was "no". I felt so worried for her safety but told her she could go and be with her friend for a few minutes, but to call me as soon as she got there. Since she was practically standing in her driveway when she called, that call didn't take too long. Then I find out the police were called out but didn't do anything. Sheesh!

Then Kayte calls (mind you I'm trying to WORK at my office this afternoon) and asks if her friend can come to our house because "she doesn't feel safe at home" -- her brother might come home and beat her up again. Yeah... good... take the poor girl to OUR house so he beats down OUR door when he's looking for her. Great idea. I tell her that I can't talk, I'm at work. All the while I kept wondering where THIS girl's mother was!?!?! The two decide to walk to my house to get away.

As she turns the corner to come to our house - who is in the driveway playing basketball with Justin? Yepper... the brother. Great!

Nothing came of it... but it's a good example of how Julie's kids just don't quite understand that when you have friends that are either involved in these kinds of activities or your friends just have friends who are involved... it WILL affect you. I'm telling you -- it's a whole different level of parenting.

Julie news... I heard she was supposed to get out of the hospital today - but she's still in for whatever reason. Her friend/roommate Kay moved out a few days ago - she didn't realize just how bad things were going to get with Julie. In particular, the self mutilation was difficult to deal with. Being that she's depressed herself and going through a divorce... she thought it was best to move out and to take care of HERSELF. Which I personally think was the right thing to do. I told her that maybe she could be the example to Julie of 'putting yourself first' - because that was something that Julie doesn't do well. At least medically she doesn't do well that is.

Amanda news!!!!!!!!!!!! Our baby girl Amanda, who will be turning 21 next Tuesday, just got engaged! She and Gene will be married 9/20/07 in a small wedding at the courthouse, and will plan for a big wedding on 9/20/08 which she hopes to have at our Church! How cool is that?? Admittedly I was concerned with Gene's age (he is 40)... but it pales in comparison to how happy he makes her... and THAT is what is important. Life isn't a dress rehearsal... if she has the opportunity to marry a man who is going to make her happy the rest of their lives... she should take it.

I have to admit, Gene and I have had our ups and downs. At one time I felt he was the most awesome man on the planet because he saved her life when she was attacked by that dog. Other times, things were difficult and I told Amanda the things about him I didn't like. (You who read my blog know me... I don't hold it in so well!) But ya know... life is what you make of it - here and now. Not what you did in the past. Not your job. Not how much money you do or do not have. Not what you have planned for the future. And the 'here and now' for Gene is that he makes my daughter happier than she's ever been before. And that....... is everything. So -- Gene and Amanda -- congratulations.

I better run... Hells Kitchen is recorded and I want to go catch it! I leave you with this Amanda:

There is no such thing as a perfect marriage, only perfect moments.
Anise and Howard Singer, married 44 years

1 comment:

Anonymous said...: Besides our prayers, I suggest calling one of the Tampa news stations. ABC Action on your Side might take on the mission of the SSA. They are good at getting results and if necessary embarassing the culprit, which with the gov't, might be needed!

Hugs,
Debi; 7:19 AM

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In A Nutshell:

Here is a letter I sent to Dr. Phil which really sums everything up:
I am married to my high-school sweetheart (20 years this August), with two wonderful children (Amanda who is 20 and Jonathan who is 13). I have two sisters, both younger – I call them “my good sister” and “my bad sister”. My good sister is – well, good! Normal in every way. The bad one, Julie, has been in trouble since she was a kid. As a baby she cried all of the time. As a teenager she was in trouble all of the time. At the age of 14 or so I remember that she had run away from home to live with a grown man in Atlanta. This was one of many run a ways. As a teenager, she provided sexual favors to boys in school, as well as teachers. As a young adult she was arrested for prostitution. She’s done drugs ranging from marijuana to crack. She was diagnosed early on as bi-polar with personality disorder. She’s also a serious cutter to the point where she no longer hid the cuts. She’s cut things like “Ronald Cecchinni” into her arm… and “Fuck you Dr. XXX” on her stomach, in large letters. Julie is also a diagnosed sex-addict. She’s also recently (in the past year) begun ‘huffing’. (I honestly believe that this huffing has caused some permanent damage) She is currently 36yo.
Julie lost her husband Ron a year and a half ago as a result of Leukemia and Kidney Disease which the military attributed to his serving in the Gulf War. He left behind three children – Kayla who is now 15, Justin who is now 14 and Kayte who is now 13. Even when Julie was married, her psychiatric problems persisted. She has been hospitalized literally hundreds of times over the years. However, when her husband was alive, he would take care of the kids when Julie was mentally out of control. After Ron died, Julie lost control of the kids and her life. She began to spiral out of control, having pot parties at her home (to the point where the kids said a door would open and a cloud of smoke would come bellowing out of the room), smoking weed with her own kids, having sex all over the house with different men all the time, allowing young men (19 yo) to sleep over with her oldest daughter (only 14 at the time), and allowing Gang members to live in her home (she said she felt ‘safe’ with them there). In addition, she was attempting suicide daily, overdosing on medications hoping to not wake up the next morning. Mind you all of this while she was seeing her Psychologist every week and Psychiatrist once a month. Both of these Doctors knew what was going on at home, neither of them reported it to the proper authorities. I have even been told by one of them that he was told, by Julie, that she ‘heard voices telling her to hurt the children’ but that she was proud that she could ignore the voices. Still, these Doctors reported nothing.
I should add here that it was at some point in this period of time in Julie’s life when her children began suicide watches over their mom… each one taking turns to sit in a room with her at all hours (night and day) because their mom was less-likely to hurt herself while they were here. However, it didn’t always work – Julie constantly took pills in front of them trying to either dope herself up or overdose, and she would even cut herself in front of the kids.
Finally one day, she woke up furious that her last suicide attempt didn’t work. She got violent with her oldest daughter, police were called, and finally DCF was called. (I would like to add that we (other family members) had called DCF in the past to report things, but some of the cases were ‘unfounded’ and one other time the fled the state knowing CF only had jurisdiction in Florida.) DCF removed the children from the home in November 2005 and I gained custody of the Children shortly thereafter.
There are lots of things I could add here about my sister, DCF, and the horrible Foster Care or Custodial Care program we are involved with. However, that is not my main reason for writing to you.
Kayte, the youngest, seems to be adjusting pretty well. She has a tendency to trivialize what her mom has done and the seriousness of it, but I think that is normal given that it is her mom. Kayte was in counseling, but she feels it’s ‘a waste of time’.
Justin, the middle child, is okay. As a young boy I'm told he was a terror. He used to hit his mother and at one point (only 6yo) tried to jump off a building to kill himself. Since then, his anger has turned in to an endless smothering of love and caring. He does everything for his mom… from getting her whatever she needs to rubbing her feet and back. Justin has seen a psychiatrist since moving in with me who felt that his issues were brought on by trauma. It was also at that visit with the psychiatrist that he confided in myself and the Doctor that he had suicidal thoughts often while living at home with his mom in her ‘state of being’ after his dad died. However, since he moved in with me he has done so much better (and continues to improve daily) that she didn’t feel he even needed counseling at this time. He would, however, need counseling before he was reunited with his mom.
Kayla, the oldest, has serious issues. She is also currently in counseling but feels that it is ‘a waste of time’. Kayla has always lied and stolen things. Family members feel sorry for her because you can tell that she doesn’t really mean any ill will by it, but it’s been ‘the way she is’ for a very long time. By far her biggest problems are lying and her need for approval by men (young and old).
Since the kids have moved in with us, my husband and I have set up rules. The kids already had myspace accounts, so we set ground rules for it. 1) We needed the login names and passwords. 2) Profiles must be set to private. 3) The only people they were allowed to have on their friends list was people that they actually knew. When Kayla’s list climbed over 300, and she was found to have inappropriate conversations (wanting to sneak out and ‘hook up’ with young men), we made everyone cut their list down to 30 friends, which included myself. 4) All vulgar language and inappropriate photos would come off immediately and would be monitored by myself at any given time. At times, they try to put up ‘sexy’ pictures which immediately need to come down.
However recently I have found that she has multiple website things going on in an attempt to pick up young men. I'll outline a few here so that you understand the gravity of the situation: 1) I found her 'normal' myspace account set to 'public view'. She has over 11,000 profile views(meaning people looking at her pictures and wanting to know more about her). I had reset it to private many times, but she keeps going back and resetting it to public. 2) I have found another myspace account which she went by the name 'Shannon' and used it to pick up young men, tease them, then later tell them that she was 'taken' but refer them to her 'cousin, Kayla'. She'd then give them all of Kayla's information. Of course thiswas also set to public. 3) I have found another social network website that was like myspace in which she had ONLY men (mostly from other states) as her 'friends' whom she corresponded with. The emails back and forth basically said the same thing as all of the others... more on that in #4 - only these were guys that not only did she not know, but they were not even in the area! 4) All accounts that I have found had basically the same thing... her emailing guys wanting to know if she was pretty, if they wanted to 'hook up', talking about going to their 'crib' or meeting up with them somewhere, and constantly seeking approval and affirmation from these guys.
I believe she gets this from her mom. And the sad thing is, if you met her, you would love her. She is truly a GREAT kid… but she has serious issues. I’ve described to you Julie’s behavior and Kayla’s seems to be the same way. Neither can make decisions on their own that are ‘the right thing to do’, and both lack the understanding of simple values, morals and ethics. I could go into so many examples. How do I describe the utterly amazing difference between Julie’s parenting style and my own?
I know... Both Julie and I have myspace accounts set up to ‘monitor’ the kids. To illustrate the difference between Julie and myself, here is something that Julie and I both put on our myspace accounts. You are supposed to put something 'about yourself' by your picture. Here is mine: "I'm 38 years old. I have two amazing kids, Amanda who is 20 and Jonathan who is 13. I have great husband, Chris. I love to sing - and have been singing in Toast of Tampa Show Chorus for 10 years. I'm raising my nieces and nephew (12, 13 and 14). I love God and my family."And here is Julie's: "I am who I am and if you dont like me for me........FUCK YOU........ Plus if you dont like me for me....... Im gunna tell my kids and there gunna kick yer ass!!!!!!!!!!!!"
Here’s the other dilemma we are having; the two girls are in counseling that is costing me $25 EACH in co-payments every time they go. The State of Florida provides NO financial support to me as a relative caregiver, other than providing the three kids with Medicaid. They received small SSI checks because of their dad’s death, but it barely covers the food they consume. The DCF worker, having spoke with the girls and being told that therapy is ‘a waste of time’, has referred me to a clinic that DCF uses for cases such as this to seek mental care for Kayla (aswell as the others). However, the kids have TriCare as their primary insurance because their dad died from Military causes. TriCare requires the co-payment, regardless of the Medicaid secondary. Having said that, please understand that I worked in referrals in a primary care physician’s office for 16 years… I totally ‘get’ what is required for primary and secondary insurances and all the red tape. But because of the uniqueness of this situation, the kids are suffering!
I should also point out here that I have the kids for an indefinite period of time. Right now Julie is doing things that she has been told to do to get the kids back. However, she is still awaiting a court ordered detailed Psychiatric exam to determine if she can EVER parent again. Even if that Psychiatrist feels she can parent again, she’ll most likely need to be ‘clean’ and ‘episode-free’ for 6 months to a year minimum. In addition, Julie is only allowed supervised visits and one phone call a day. This came about because of her inappropriate behavior when she was with the kids and because when she was allowed to call any time she’d call 10 + times a day.
The other problem with Julie ever getting her children back is that… she doesn’t understand what she did wrong. She parents as if she were 15-years old herself. If anyone has ever done something bad and been able to ‘keep’ their kids, she sees no reason she can’t do it. She brought her daughter at the age of 13 in for a HUGE tattoo on the small of her back. It’s Tigger flipping ‘the bird’ with her gang name under it. She was also planning on getting a large tattoo on her 12yo before the kids were taken. Again, she sees nothing wrong with any of her past behavior.
So, you see, I could have these children for the rest of their teenage years. I honestly don’t know where to turn to get them the help they need.
I feel as if I am in a psychiatric nightmare and I just can’t wake up. Eight months ago I was at home, my biggest ‘kid worry’ was if my son was going to get good grades on his report card. Now I find myself in a crux worried about whether or not the lessons I teach them, this late in their young life, are going to be enough to turn these kids around and help them to be productive adults in the near future.

Tina's Daily Blog

Monday, June 04, 2007

Life Is What You Make Of It

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