Times change the heart to blackened sac

My life has come to a point where darkness and light have blurred. 

Everything is grey. Colors are bleeding across the painting of my life.   

I have lived in one place for 28 years. It has had its joys and its sorrows. Many highs and lows. Many dreams have flown away with the light of day into the night. 

My life has not been easy. I was not handed things in life. Not a rich spoiled brat. Maybe a spoiled brat at some points in my life. At certain achievements such as graduation or milestones. A single mother and a grandmother who stayed with me even with a hellion teenager. 

Once graduated from required schooling, I stayed behind as my oddly normal classmates went out into the world on a grand tour of the in betweens. Being a young adult coming into a working adult as it once were. I made a commitment to my grandmother as she did me. I aided in her care until her passing. I stayed with mom and now I aid in her care as a singular adult, no one else to help care for her as there was once was for my grandmother. 

Now the moment has arrived where my life is no longer my own as it would seem. The house we once were happy in no longer exists. What now stands in its place is that of despair and sorrow. No more fake smiles to get by. No more arguments that become forgotten moments later. The negative energy follows us to our temporary roof over our heads. The insults linger of bad odors and stink of trash. 

The leftovers of hurt feelings and anguish follow us to what pays the bills.  Minds no longer cover up or dispose of the anxieties of facing each other once again after the day is over. The heart attacks of anxiety overwhelm the rational logic. It is not going to get better. Are we at the worst part before it gets better? I cannot tell of late what this is. 

Why must she continue speaking of personal death as if it were a doctor's appointment? Is this the true nature of the family line? The willingness to give it up and just not care anymore?! Why is it such importance of what you think you will leave behind? I have urged to have things changed so it would not be of importance. My requests have been muted. So many times you ignore what I say. So many times you do not want to hear why I am in anguish. Refusal to speak none of this truth for fear of dire consequences. What would people think of you if they could only hear the truth behind your smile? 

My own self is not of my own anymore. I require space for personal maintenance of self. To replenish my own serenity and peace and patience. I am so wound up tight with anxiety. I fear my own panic once again. I despise who I am now. The phantom of the opera. A scrooge. A common thief with no ease of pain. My panic disorder is not eased by external or internal methods anymore. Anxiety does not ease up. 

I have worked so hard to find some peace inside myself to become a better person. To respect. To love. Disavow hate and isolation. 

The house has fallen into disrepair. There is no hope and no savior for what once called a home. It is a dilapidated house. What was once was love is now hate. A family once is now a solitary soul in desperate need of healing. 

Emotions so intense and desperate. What emotions are behind the madness that has taken over me? Difficult times have not eluded me. They have helped define my resilience. My resilience is fading. The smiley face is no longer clear. It is a blurry face.  My heart wants to cry deeply, the fear of vulnerability will not allow such exposure. Will I break down and cry when she picks me up?

All the years I have given over to caring for family. I have nothing to show. I feel like a nomad. My heart cries out for what would be a normal family. I have no place to go. No way to run away to a safe place. What have I really given up? What would I have become? Who would I have been if things were different? I have no one to hand my heart over to as I vomit it up with sorrow. 

What would happen if I left her? Would she really die? Her mother gave up. Just quit taking her medication. She didn't take care of herself. She lapsed into a coma to her death. It was devastating. Depression. I try to tell myself all the negative statements and behavior is because of it. It is just too overwhelming for my heart. I have no one left to take care of my soul. 

That may be the saddest part of all. Everything ends with me. 

Why should I care about having anything. All of it will end up at a thrifty store. What a sham.

2019 Changes Roller Coaster

I can't believe that I have not written in over a year. I've thought about many times. I just never got a chance to sit down to type anything meaningful.

I have changes jobs. I went from a preschool teacher/bus driver to a full time bus driver with a school district in North Carolina. It is with Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools, 18th largest school district in the nation. Last year I drove bus 573. This year is 14. 

I love interacting with students. Even with the same routes everyday, not every day is the same. Some students do not ride the bus, some behavior issues, etc. I do not write up a child unless it is necessary.

I am passionate about being a teacher, even on the bus. I try to work with parents and the school before a write up is necessary. I have one child that I have seen progress with being able to sit down now versus at the beginning on the school year. Woo hoo! Many of my elementary students love to color. I have crayons and paper.

I may be the black sheep on the bus lot, just don't mistake that for a lack of passion and commitment to my students.

If I could drive a school bus every day all day, I would. It would be my ride everywhere. 

I've had a few panic attacks. Not many. My anxiety level has been a roller coaster this school year. I have been worried that I have taken a few steps backward in my peaceful zen. 

Stress of finances, house falling apart, and all the trifling idiots at work. Just so much right now. I wish that we (my mom and I) could just sell the 14 acre property and move to an apartment. Not in Charlotte, Charlotte is pushing a lot of low income families out. Maybe Pineville or a surrounding area. There are many bus lots I can transfer to.

It is fate, keeping the faith, and persistence. Maybe even destiny. Working towards a goal. I am proud to keep my students safe by God's hands and stay sane.

More to come!

Racism and Peace

In this country, how can we resolve the issue of racism? In simple terms: we cannot eliminate it. Why? Racism, prejudice, and bigotry will always be the darkness looming below the surface of humanity.

Just in the past month, one cop shooting a black man is one too many. As a preschool teacher who is also a bus monitor, I was floored back to reality when a child spoke of cops killing people (on the bus). Why would you expose your child to this injustice and hatred? As a 4-year-old, I knew he was smart enough to make the statement; yet, unable to think through the structural logic of his statement. It is not just a statement. It is an intricate web of social, moral, and racial inequities of our society.

It scare me as well. What will this child do if confronted by law enforcement? I cannot control the future nor can I predict it. I do not know what is in store for our future. I hope that by educating that we can overcome this looming darkness.

I believe we were all made the same on the inside by God. The unique part of us is our personality and skin. How boring would it be if we were all the same? I have 18 children in my classroom. There are about 22 children on my school bus. 40 children I encounter every day. One child can change the course of life in any given way.

Any person who engages in racism or bigotry needs to find some mountain town to live in away from our communities. Leave it at home. Our communities need to be rebuilt by equities by all, not just some.

Violence does not beget violence. It is hard to see past the piece of the puzzle in front of us. Can anyone see that the violence aggravates the broken pieces of humanity? The pieces have to be put together.

We first have to believe. In ourselves and each other. We can live in peace. It is possible. We can live in peace with respect if nothing else. Life is too short to lose people by violence.

We are so artificial.

New Ally

Last week I realize that I have a new ally in the fight with depression and anxiety. It is an unexpected friend that I thought would never understand my plight. Out of respect for this person, I will not reveal who they are.  I will say welcome and thank you for sharing your personal thoughts with me.

I will never gossip about anything. The only thing I will do is get you or someone help if they need it. Only if you are homicidal or suicidal or even have intent.

There is a stigma that will always follow us no matter what we do or where we go. We just don’t tell parts of ourselves. It is something we carry around privately from fear. It is the darkness in light.

 It is in fear of what people may think. People may think we are violent. Not true for the majority of us. There is only a small handful of people that are violent who have mental illness. People often do not know what to say. We are discriminated against. The media has polluted people’s thoughts about mental illness. That is the source of the violence, not the mentally ill.

Know this: we are not below any normally healthy person. We are not violent. We eat, breathe, and bleed like everyone else.

If we can’t put down our fears and lose the misperceptions of mental illness, we will never be able to overcome it. Never. It is in the same pot as racism and prejudice.

We can’t “get over it” nor should we hear it. Try telling a cancer patient or other physically ill to “get over it” and see what happens! You get over your misconceptions about mental illness.

That is all.

Peaceful days and poetry

It has been very peaceful these past few days at work. Thomas hasn’t been seen so my tears have not returned. I cashiered yesterday which was a new experience. I am used to moving around a lot in my department constantly. I stood around for a while in between customers. I felt like I was slacking off. I zoned around my register.

A customer came up to my register with a few items. One of them was liver or gizzards. Anyway, the lid was coming off and there was a bloody mess. I wanted to throw up! My OCD was kicking in and it was about to get bad! Luckily I had hand sanitizer and disinfectant spray so I took care of the spill immediately. I let the customer know I appreciated him being patient as I cleaned the spill up.

I am slowly working on compiling my poetry on a flash drive. Once I have compiled everything, I will begin printing it off for my poetry notebook.  It is going to be in titled sections. I may post some poetry on my blog as I go along. I’m excited that this project is under way! Maybe I can get it published one day!

I’ve been enjoying the late shifts this week. It has given me time to blog and keep up with my poetry project. I have some early shifts next week.  I will try to keep up on adding poetry to the flash drive as time permits. I will make a recommendation to my manager that I enjoy the later shifts.