Hey guys;
this is a TWLOHA blogged e-mail that inspired me.
i just wanted to share.
i know it's long, but it's worth it.
Good afternoon.
My thirteen-year-old daughter has been
struggling with self-harm (cutting) for nearly
a year now. She has been seeing a therapist for
the last six months at her own request; before
that time we had no insurance coverage, and
I promised her that as soon as we did, I would
see that she got the help she needed from a
professional. The months beforehand were
difficult, but not impossible. She hid things
very well from me most of the time. A few
weeks ago she called me into her room and
said, “I want to show you a shirt I’d like.” I saw
TO WRITE LOVE ON HER ARMS in huge
letters, and my face must have blanched because
her next words were “No, Mom, it’s not what you
think. It’s a really good thing.” She explained the
website and the mission to me as best she could,
and I told her I would check it out for myself. I
was surprised to find out that one of her friends
had told her about it. As I read the blogs, and the
calendar, and the links, I knew this was something
that could potentially help her. Then, I saw that
you were coming to UW-Oshkosh. Uh oh—
a school night, and it’s a two-and-a-half hour
drive for us. No matter; I told her that if she
and her friend wanted to go, I would take them.
We’d have a “chicks only” road trip, we’d have
dinner out, attend the event, maybe get shirts
or wristbands or a CD, and be home by
midnight. They were both ecstatic at the idea.
So, I picked them up after school and we hit the
road. All the way up we listened to CDs: the soundtrack to The Crow, the soundtrack to
Cool World. My daughter loves both, and
I wanted her to be comfortable with her
friend along. It seemed to work. We arrived
at the venue with a few minutes to spare. She
was concerned that we’d be the only ones there.
I chuckled and said I doubted very much that
would be the case, and in we went. I will guess
there were 400 people in attendance, just from
my rough seat-count calculations. The girls were
very surprised and happy that “we weren’t alone.”
Little did they realize just how not alone they
were. We greatly enjoyed Jarrod’s set, and I
was very, very moved by Jamie’s story. I knew
the girls were listening to every word, because
my daughter silenced her cell phone as asked
at the beginning—and then put it away so she wouldn’t be interrupted during Jamie’s talk.
That spoke volumes to me. We couldn’t stay
for the Q&A because of the time, but I would
have loved to. As we were driving home I
could hear them chatting quietly in the back seat.
Then my daughter spoke up. “Mom? Would
you be mad at me if I changed my Facebook
status tomorrow morning to say ‘Because of
TWLOHA, I am ready to admit I am addicted?’”
I managed not to choke up. I looked at her in
the rear-view mirror and smiled, and said
“No, honey. I wouldn’t be mad at all. I’ve told
you, I know that cutting is an addictive behavior,
haven’t I?” “You won’t make me delete it or
anything?” “No, I won’t. You know people are
going to ask you addicted to what, right?”
“Yeah, I know. But I don’t have to tell them. I
can just admit that I am, and that’s enough.”
Indeed. It’s enough. She’s taken another step for
herself—thanks to you. Tomorrow morning
when she meets with her psychiatrist for the
first time I expect she’ll tell him all about last
night. She wore her TWLOHA hoodie an
wristbands to school today with pride. Thank
you. All of you. You’ve done something for
her that I could not.
Blessings, her mom.
rileylovesyoou