My beautiful son Michael has his own beautiful son.

After years of struggling with addiction and bipolar disorder, Michael has spent months working hard at sobriety and medical compliance. He’s in school, working and dedicating himself to his young family.

I share this to encourage you.

If you or someone you love deals with a serious mental illness, addiction or both, take heart, have faith and maintain hope. Michael was terribly ill for nearly 7 years. His dad and I were repeatedly told to “let it go” and “give it up.” We didn’t. We’re glad.

I’m not telling you to tolerate the intolerable, but I am urging you to maintain relationships, continue to love, and offer help and support when it’s solicited.

The rewards are SO worth the challenge.

And if you ever need to share your story or vent your feelings, I’m just a click away.

Lovingly,

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 14th, 2009 at 8:00 am and is filed under Addiction, Bipolar Disorder, Family, Mental Health, Parenting. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.