Shattered

I am watching "Cold Case:  Shattered".  Lily was knocked unconscious by a door in a crappy hotel, and her gun stolen.  When she came to, she was staring at a photo of herself and her sister as little girls which prompted a flashback to a time at the beach.  Lily was always trying to save her mother and sister in the show, carrying the baggage of her tortured childhood with her.

Another image I have in my min>d is of a movie "Bring Ashley Home".  When I first watched this movie in 2011, Kaitlyn's life had not spiraled out of control yet.  Last year, it was on cable again, but I couldn't even bring myself to think about watching it because of its all too real similarity to Kaitlyn's story.  This video is a clip of scenes from the movie combined with a beautiful Casting Crowns song.  Not a second goes by that I do not wonder myself, "Does Anybody Hear Her"?

*** The original video I had was removed by youtube, so I uploaded this one.  When I searched on youtube, I found this one, and it had such a powerful message that I chose it over many others.  If you watch this on youtube, you will see so many comments from people who feel lost, abandoned, hurt, unwanted.  


Both Lily and Libba are sisters.  I don't know if Melanie or Whitney will ever feel strongly enough about Kaitlyn's salvation to risk so much to help her, but I know that I do.  I think about all the hours spent in complete enraptured prayer literally screaming and begging God to save Kaitlyn.  I think also about all the hours of driving around looking for Kaitlyn, making phone calls, tracking down leads.  I think about all the hugs, love, kindness and insults endured as I've tried desperately to hold onto a tiny, fragile thread of connection to my beautiful daughter.  It's almost impossible to separate her mental illness / addiction from the person she is (was, could be).  Each day just has to be about that day.  Each second has to be about that second.  Most people cannot handle this.  I am not sure some days that I am handling it at all.

February 2006

What Happened?        © Angelita Alvarez

What happened is what I ask myself everyday.

What was she thinking knowing she'd be putting her life to waste.
This is my sister and I love her with all my heart,
But doing drugs has only kept us far apart.
I never thought she would end up this way,
It hurts me knowing I can't help her, so all I do is pray,
I pray for her to open her eyes before it's too late.
Dealing drugs and stealing became her hobby,
I guess she doesn't care if her kids end up without a mommy.
Why can't she be the way she was before?
Now that was my sister, the one that always loved me more.
She was my best friend, we were always together,
Nothing ever kept us apart because we promised we'd be sisters forever.
I guess forever finally came to an end.
She don't love me anymore now, Heroin became her new friend.
I cry every time something reminds me of my sister,
I feel anger and pain inside knowing I can't help her.
But I won't lose faith,
Every night I will pray,
Cause I know someday God will show her the way.
So now I put this poem to an end and wish only for the best,
I pray it's never my sister who will someday be laid to rest!

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I really don't have too much to say about this, but I did want to make a note about the feelings watching this episode of "Cold Case" stirred in me.  Kaitlyn's situation is not promising as of today.  All I can do is pray and continue to have faith in her.

Prayers for Kaitlyn

The power of faith, of prayer…………… This topic is one so personal and messy for me.  I have a strong love/hate relationship with my faith.  I always have.  It’s my classic passive / aggressive reaction to a strongly emotional topic.

Faith is like that.  It is emotion.  It is inextricably tied to everything without a tangible link or presence of its own. 

When I hear stories about the miracles played out in the lives of others, I want to rage at the unfairness of it and delight in the magic of it all at one time.  Today, I am pleading for a miracle for Kaitlyn.  She needs one.  I would sacrifice my future, my life even, to grant her a miracle of recovery.

In the last year, I cannot discern what part of her struggle is from her mental illness and which part is from her drug addiction.  They are inextricably linked.  I just want to put my arms around her and make it all go away.

Sadly, there is no happy pill, no instant fix, no cure that comes easily.  Recovery and healing will take a lot of hard work…………..and it’s the type of work that even mature adults struggle with.  I cannot imagine being 18 and having no perspective of tomorrow.  Kaitlyn cannot deal with future.  All she can do is react to the immediate need.

I have always been the exact opposite.  I cannot deal with immediacy without having some sense of a future outcome better than where I am.  I need a roadmap, a plan.  Ok, I’ll say it, I need a happily ever after.

I want Kaitlyn to go to rehab.  As I listen to success stories on KLove, I want to physically drag her to Teen Challenge.  I want recovery.  I want to call into the show and tell them my 10 seconds of good that is Kaitlyn's recovery and healing.  I desperately love my daughter.  

Grieving

Today is hard..................my daughter has been gone now for 4 weeks.  She left when I made the ultimatum about rehab, and in all the days since she's left, I often find that I blame myself.  It's a natural part of the grieving process, but it still hurts.  I want my daughter.  I want the daughter that I used to know.  It hurts so much not knowing.  This is the second disappearance in a year.

This path she is on ends only in three ways:  recovery, death, jail.  As the loved one, I spend so much time internally bargaining with my own ideal / principals.  What I want is a full recovery.  I would settle for jail at this point because the thought of death is too much for me.

A part of me is missing, and it hurts most days to even take a breath.

Can I tell you how amazing and beautiful my daughter really is??

When she was a little girl, she was so serious.  She would contemplate long and hard about many things.  She was not without happiness or joy, but she often contemplated those with a seriousness that I had not seen in her sisters.  She was also very determined.  She wanted her way.  I remember that I would listen to her discussion and then steel myself when I told her she could not have her way because she was so often tenacious.  She has not changed very much.

She loved playing in the band.  She had decided to play the oboe when she was only 10.  For whatever reason, she wanted it, and as her mom, I was supportive.  In 6th grade band, she had to fight for the right to play the oboe in the school band.  The band teacher attempted to talk her out of it, but Kaitlyn stood her ground and was able to play the oboe.  The reeds for the instrument were not cheap, and often I had to order them because the music stores in Austin did not always carry the reeds.  I remember that throughout middle school, staying on top of reed orders was a priority for me as her mom.  When Kaitlyn switched to the euphonium, I was concerned that she had been talked out of playing the oboe.  She had simply decided to play another difficult instrument that few others played.  Kaitlyn wanted to do things that others didn't.  She was looking to find her own niche, her own voice.

RRISD rezoned our neighborhood going into her high school career, and she was inadvertently left off mailing lists for band going into the 9th grade.  The band director at her school kicked her out of band, and I spent several days negotiating with the school to keep her in band.  She quit instead.  It is a decision I did not support and one she later regretted.  It was the last disappointment she could handle.............she had suffered so many.  Her parents' divorce, a long term abuse, an assault at her new school in the 6th grade, moving to Austin.............one disappointment after another.  It was too much for her.

I bear responsibility for some of these situations.  I also bear responsibility for not acting quickly enough with therapeutic  intervention.  These failures on my part will haunt me until amends can be made and I can re-establish a relationship with my daughter.  As suffocating as the guilt is, I know that Kaitlyn has an even heavier load to carry, and I beg God daily to give me her pain and suffering to bear.  I would give my life today to give her a future without the burdens she carries.

Kaitlyn has a deep, twisted sense of humor.  She watches the most sardonic cartoons and laughs at the smallest things that most others would overlook.  She can reference movies / music / tv shows and understand deeply intense metaphors.  Part of her unique personality comes from this ability to remember everything, but it also contributes to her suffering.  Simple distractions do not placate her.  This is one of the reasons that standard addiction recovery frustrates her.  She needs intensity to feel progress is being made.

Now that she is 18, she is considered an adult, and I have had a difficult time getting the "professionals" to speak with me.  I understand HIPAA rules, but I feel some of the impatience she feels.  I cannot imagine her frustration, but watching her struggle, I want to help her.

Kaitlyn was very close with her father in the first 6 years of her life.  You could even say that she was his favorite child.  Almost everyone saw it.  I would do the best I could to intervene, to have time with Kaitlyn and to force interactions between their father and our other children.  Her father often carried Kaitlyn around and did everything for her, even though she could manage herself.  The divorce changed that relationship dynamic.  I saw it.

To help Kaitlyn transition, I did put her into counseling.  I tried everything I could think of to ease the pain of separation.  I seriously tried to maintain a healthy balance for my children.  Their father dropped out of sight, a reaction to the divorce that has persisted 12 years later.  I have tried; I won't even justify my actions.  My disappointment in my ex-husband and in his family knows no bounds.  My anger at them resurfaces often.  I learned quite painfully early on that I was alone in the process of raising my daughters.  Aside from the disappointment and anger I feel toward the ex-family, there was always a little girl, abandoned, left alone with the parent she was not close to.  Over time, I felt she had matured and had even grown fond of me, but that was  lie I told myself.

Kaitlyn told me recently that she feels guilt for never wanting to live with her mom.  She says that she has longed for her father all this time, and that being with her mom has only made her miss her father even more.  It was a confession I suspected and dreaded.  I knew how she felt about me.  I wanted more, but I had to face the reality of it.  A sweet, beautiful and amazingly talented young girl was separated from the parent she loved so much and forced to live with the parent she had no attachment to.  As much as I would want to, I cannot change the reality of this relationship situation.

As parents, we don't always get to keep those we bear.

I don't blame Kaitlyn.  I forgive her, too.  I want only the best for her.

Writing helps me.  It allows me to work through my emotions.  After I complete an entry, I will read back over it and find the deeper meaning behind my words.  I don't always have time to write when I become overwhelmed with emotions, but I make diligent efforts.  As we try to heal, I still must deal with my feelings for my beautiful daughter and also deal with sense of loss.

God, I pray for complete recovery.  Please allow Kaitlyn to see her true beauty before she destroys it or herself.  Please allow Kaitlyn to forgive those who she feels have hurt her.  Please allow her to forgive herself.  She is amazing.  She is wonderful, creative and compassionate.  God, I will sacrifice my own happiness, my own future to grant her one.  I pray on bended knee with profound sadness for her struggle.