Monday, September 12, 2016

The right idea, the video is a bit strange but the idea is right on...

Special Occasions



I haven’t updated in a while.  That is primarily because nothing has really changed but also because I just haven’t wanted to think about it anymore than I have been already. I’m going to counseling every week.  It seems to be helping at least a little bit but it will be a long road.  There are days, and this last weekend was full of them, that I feel like I’m never going to feel better about this.  There are so many experiences lost and so much time I can never get back.  One of the many ugly truths about adoption is for an adopted person happy events are almost always sad also.  When a happy event makes me sad it brings with it another feeling of isolation from everyone else. 

This past weekend my family celebrated the birthdays of one of my brothers and one of my nieces.  I wasn’t there.  I sent cards, gifts, and birthday wishes and I know they were appreciated.  What I really wanted was to be part of it.  I know it isn’t uncommon for people to miss a special occasion with family, especially when they are adults and have responsibilities.  It is uncommon however; no it is unnatural to miss every special occasion.  My brother tuned 28 last week, and it marked the 28th time I’ve missed his birthday.  My niece turns nine this coming Saturday but the celebration was combined with my brother’s; necessary with all the family members and birthdays.  This coming Saturday will mark the 9th time I’ve missed her birthday.  I don’t know what to do with that.  Family was really never important to me, outside my wife and children, until I had a real extended family of my own.  Now it, and the loss surrounding it, is the focus of my life.

I’m taking the younger boys out there for Thanksgiving.  This will be the first major holiday I spend with my family and I’m more than a little concerned about the impact it will have on me.  Will it simply be happy?  Will it be happy and sad at the same time?  Will the weight of all the missed Thanksgivings of the past try and crush me?  I don’t know. 

I’ve been distant from my wife and children for several months now.  I’m sad a lot and short tempered with all of them and I hate that I am being that way.  I can’t seem to stop it though.  I don’t ever want them to feel like they are not important to me but I fear I have been doing just that.  I suppose I could be called lucky having made it as far in life as I have never having felt anything like this before.  The problem with that, of course, is I have no experience dealing with it.  As such I end up taking it out on the people closest to me, and the least deserving of getting that treatment from me. 

I was hoping going back to work today would at least take my mind away from everything for a while.  I t didn’t work today, though often it does.  That made for a difficult day, trying to hold it together and get work done isn’t easy.  At least I have a meeting with the counselor tomorrow after work, I need it.

How I hate being adopted…