November, 2017 - My Warrior Mom Life

Our Utah Visit

We took a morning flight to Salt Lake City from Oakland International Airport. Picked up the rental car and headed south to begin our 2 1/2 day visit with our son. We had our family Thanksgiving meal the day before and so did he with staff, other students and some parents at his residential treatment center. We heard they had a feast and lots of pie!

We were filled with excitement and anticipation when we arrived to pick him up. He was ready and greeted us warmly with hugs. We signed him out and were reminded of our mutual contract, signed verbally over Skype earlier in the week. Our son agreed to it also. He was to never leave our sight. If there was a bathroom break, we stood outside of the door. I am glad to say we never had a problem and it went very smoothly.

We headed out towards one of the big malls in the Provo area seeking a movie theatre. There are plenty of Cinemark Theatres throughout the area to choose from. We decided to have some dinner before seeing Thor: Ragnarok with Chris Hemsworth. We were all very happy to see each other after our last visit for Parent Days a month before. The conversation was a bit one sided with all of our questions, but we are working on communication, so there is room for improvement.

After the dinner (we had burgers) and the movie we made some family phone calls. Our son is not supposed to use any technology, so I dialed and held my iPhone within range of all of us in the car. We talked to Grandma and some cousins and everyone was happy to hear from our sixteen year old. From our parking space at the mall we saw what looked like an obstacle course of Christmas lights. Cars headed toward the “Enter” sign and turned off their headlights and zigged and zagged through the maze of flashing and pulsating lights. I googled the attraction and was surprised to see that it cost $25 per car. It seemed a bit high priced.

We headed back to the RTC (residential treatment center) to return our son by 9 pm and checked him in with staff. On our way we had a required “family meeting” which covered: What went well, what didn’t go well. We each took turns answering those questions. The goal for the weekend was to “have a good time”, so we were definitely successful on the first night. We said our goodbyes, shared some hugs and would return in the morning for our next adventure.

We headed back to our Holiday Inn Express and were happy to be able to spend time with our son. It felt like a long time since we enjoyed a movie as a family and had a meal without technology in the middle of it. The next morning we had plans to check out the Provo Recreation Center. “WOW” is all I can say! What a place! It had everything and the price was right! A day pass was $5 for adults and $4 for under 18.

Provo Rec Center at Our Utah Visit

We took a tour of the place and decided to come back in the afternoon after lunchtime. We played ping pong, pool and table top shuffleboard (not sure of the real name of this fun game). We swam in the pool, floated along the lazy river, jumped off the cliff (platform), sped down the water slide, climbed the rock wall and fell back into the water. It was so much fun! There were tons of families there too!

To be continued…..(find out what else we did during our Utah visit in the next blog post!)

As they say on postcards, “We are having a great time and wish you were here……”

Warmly,

WARRIOR MOM

Giving Thanks and Being Grateful

Thanksgiving is next week and I want to take a moment to give thanks! I am grateful for so many things. We spoke by Skype with our sixteen year old today and he is continuing to do well at school. There are a few minor things that he is working through, rule oriented and getting assignments done, but all are handled in a way that shows growth is happening. He remains upbeat and looks great.

1. I am grateful for a new beginning. It has been a wild ride this year, but BlueFire Wilderness helped save his life. Our son admitted to spiraling downward just before we sent him at the end of June. By the end of his thirteen weeks in Idaho, he was able to see that his negative behaviors and negative friends were NOT good for him.

2. I am grateful for his new environment in Utah. It’s very costly and further away in distance that we would like, but he is SAFE and following a program which will help him learn (school stuff) and succeed. He says he’d rather be home, but he enjoys it and knows he has work ahead of him.

3. I am grateful to the countless friends and family members who have cared enough to listen to me. The topic of a struggling teen is not for the faint of heart. We have opened up and in return have received so much. I know we are not alone!

4. I am grateful for my BLOG. Thank you My Warrior Mom Life readers. I know many of you personally (see #3) and others I do not, but I can’t tell you, how much writing about our story has helped me. It is a release putting it into writing. I feel free-er because of it. I hope you will keep reading and sharing with others. I know I can help many people along the way!

5. I am grateful to be able to BE PRESENT. Sure, I’d like to check out sometimes, and honestly do occasionally, but being mindful is so important to my everyday existence. All we really have is TODAY! I am going to live it!

6. I am grateful to be able to WALK and TALK. “One foot in front of the other” has been a mantra of mine for the past six months or so. I __________ (walk, talk, swim…..fill in the blank), because I am able! For that ability, I am grateful.

7. I am grateful for HUMOR. They say that “laughter is the best medicine”. That is for sure! Even in the darkest moments, I have been able to laugh. It is vital to my personal mental health. Know any good jokes?

8. I am grateful for HUMILITY. I have been blessed to be “good” at many different things. School and athletics came easily to me. I did work hard and practice too, but I am grateful for those gifts. Not everyone can claim them, for example: my son. It’s taken me a long time to understand that.

9. I am grateful to be HAPPY. Some days I miss my son terribly. Other days, I do my daily tasks and keep moving forward without realizing it. However, I am glad not to feel that pit in the bottom of my stomach, morning, noon and night. I can BREATHE. That is true happiness to me.

10. I am truly grateful to have a partner who is on this journey with me, every step of the way. We are in a “club” we didn’t sign up for. We are stronger for it. We are survivors. We are not perfect. We are able to ask for help. I am so fortunate to have you by my side! Thank you!

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you! I am only one Mom of millions, but I remain a

WARRIOR MOM

A Shave and A Haircut….Six Pence…..

A Shave and A Haircut...Sixpence

When my son came out of the Wilderness Program at the end of September, he was pretty scruffy. Before heading to the new school, he was able to take a really long, hot shower at our hotel. On the packing list was an electric razor. They don’t allow regular blades, as you can imagine. After he cleaned up, he looked amazing! WOW!

But his hair was still long, about shoulder length. I didn’t really mind it that length. He looked good. But we were sure surprised when we heard from his therapist that all the boys just had their haircut, a few weeks into his stay at the Ranch. When our Skype call began, what a sight he was! Short hair! He said he hated it! Another WOW! He looked good. It was a little short on the sides and a tiny bit longer on the top.

These haircuts were part of the program and to have self-respect for caring how one looked. I liked it, but I’m a parent! Each generation has their fads. Remember how long everyone thought Elvis wore his hair? And the Beatles? And the hippies in the late 1960’s? We hardly think about it anymore. We didn’t even flinch when our son asked for purple hair, or other colors in the past two years. We didn’t need to make that one of our battles!

But I can see how differently he acts with this new shorter hair cut. There is a sense of “clean-cut-ness” to make up my own word! So the sixteen year old is clean shaven AND short-haired! What a change from four months ago. His last hair cut was for his 8th grade graduation. And with that haircut, the purple dye was added by our loyal hair salon owner friend. She even came in on her day off to help us out! What a pal!

Now we hear that the boys at the Ranch are participating in “No Shave November”. It raises awareness for cancer patients. I’m all for that! We hear that some of the staff members are joining the boys on this one! Way to go guys! One week in the month down, three to go! I’ll keep you posted to how it all goes!

Until then, “keep it short on the sides”!

WARRIOR MOM

Missing You……

From the John Waite song MISSING YOU:

“Everytime I think of you, I always catch my breath
And I’m still standing here, and you’re miles away”.I have many MOM moments like this because my son is at an RTC (resdential treatment center)/school in another state. I’m sure it’s natural, but every once in a while that feeling of “missing you” comes over me.

I know he is safe. I know he is doing well. I know it’s WAY BETTER than just four months ago, but it still gets me. There is a bittersweetness too it all, he is only sixteen. I also realize this is not a permanent state and that he will come home again. It won’t be anytime soon, however. Until then, the house is quieter and much neater. I don’t go to Safeway every day to shop for groceries. The water bill is lower, but the little everyday activities are not the same in our house. We could have used his help with the decorations and the treat or treaters on Halloween, that’s for sure.

I am sure on his end, he is thinking many of the same thoughts about being away from home. Yes, he has structure and lots of people who care around him. He is doing a lot of fun activities: a ropes course, lots of board games, feeding his newborn calf and hopefully some school work. I wonder if he gets sad at night when he goes to sleep? I wonder how often he thinks of his doggy at home and the way she “growled” at him when he tried to pick her up? I wonder how much he misses his old life, even if it wasn’t working, because it was easier?

I write this blog because I want to help others going through struggles with their teenagers. I also write it to help myself, because it does. Right now I have a lump in my throat and a few tears in my eyes, but that’s okay. I will be okay. I have to be!

Reflecting on life,

WARRIOR MOM

P.S. And the weekly letter just came from the Ranch, from our son and it’s super cute. He says he’s making friends, just got a job as a manager filling the calves food and is having a really good time! I am a Happy Mom!