Daily Rantics

A lot of my clients like to pull the "depression" card, for instance "my wife was on anti depressants last year, and I don't think she can be a good mother because of it". The sad thing is, THIS COULD ACTUALLY STAND UP IN COURT. But no one cares that last year that this lady's her mother died, and she had a miscarriage all at the same time that pushed her to seek help. No one cares that the depression could have been situational and not chemical. I hate this stance, because it scares the crap out of me knowing that someday, Adam could just whip that card out of his deck and say that I'm not a good mom because I once fought depression.
Some women experience post-partum depression, and I even read a brief where a lawyer actually went after a woman in court for having post partum and labeled her a bad mother because of it! Of course, the judge was a female and the judge dismissed the lawyer and the Respondents claim as the mother had had treatment for her post partum and had approached the disorder in a controlled and informed matter.

But sometimes you’re not so lucky.

I would just like you to know, that it’s hard living with depression. It's hard not being able to help yourself, let alone someone who depends on you like your child would. But there are ways to manage these effects so that you can go throughout your day.

Because a mother or father takes medication for depression does not make them a bad parent. As long as they stay on the drug and follow doctors orders, they should be able to reintegrate back into society without none being the wiser that this person had an issue in the first place.

My whole rant today is how I hate the fact that depression even comes up in a court proceeding, especially if the person has it under control and the other party wants to bring this condition to light because they've run out of "ammo".

Anyway that’s my rant for today. I'm tired.

I was struggling with the loss of familiarity around me, my family was gone, my grounding, my roots, were disrupted and taken away. I also was dealing with the depressing nature of a Christmas without my parents. I was a mess to say the least. I was reaching out to find some sort of hobby to keep my sprits up. Something to make me feel good. And I found it. Boy did I ever find it.
I swear to god, I ate, slept, and showered Operation Christmas Child for those two weeks. I was immersed, and it helped. Of course it was in such a short notice, and only got to use two weeks to get ready, so it was stressful too, but it was worth it.
Adam and I had agreed to shoot for more boxes the following year, and now we're trying to settle on a number that would be doable in our small confined space. 100 boxes was a bit crazy to have all those boxes every where. So maybe since we have a bit of time before the due-date, we can do more, but in smaller batches, over the weeks.

So maybe this year we will shoot for 300 boxes, or maybe we can do them as we go and hope for even more.  All I know is that I am extremely excited, as this is my highlight of Christmas these days.
For everyone that is reading this, I think it's a great way to instill humanity into your children, to have them pack a box of nick-knacks to send to needy children. It helps them to grasp that while they play their Nintendo DS and ask for Nikes and cell phones for Christmas, that there are kids in third war countries that are overwhelmed with joy by receiving a colouring book and some crayons, a rubber ball, or stickers. It's also eye-opening to realize you are packing a gift for a child that consists of everyday things we take for granted, like a tooth brush, comb, face cloth and Soap.
I hope that someday this will be my hobby. That maybe I might be able to be the one passing out these boxes in Peru, Africa, and Asia or where ever need be.

Because I'd like to think that I'm just a small cog in a large forward-thinking machine...maybe someday I'll be the catalyst to change the way things are in countries that need me.