Submitted by Alice
Last night Ed graduated from Acme Academy
At times in Ed's journey through the school years, I thought we would never make it. His behavior in school, failing grades, and then drugs, skipping school, leaving school early, and simply not caring, made it extremely hard. I was frustrated and exhausted. Then we found PSST!
If you recall, our two boys were arrested in 2010 after our
first PSST meeting. Ed went to placement
for six months a few months later. He
hated me for "putting him there." When he left placement in October of his sophomore
year, we knew he could not go back to his old school. But no fear: we have help and friends at PSST on our side. Kathie T. told us about Acme Academy
After the interview at Acme Academy
Ed thrived in the environment. Months later the Director said that Ed was
such a model student, by making A's and B's and helping other students, that
she was sorry for having hesitated accepting him.
As I sat at graduation and watched my son sit with the other
graduates, I was proud. The Acme Academy
CEO spoke to each graduate about hope.
It was inspiring. He had talked
to each graduate before graduation, so he spoke about what each one's hopes and
dreams were. It was personalized as he went
down the list of graduates. Ed's hope was
about independence, because he had moved out of our house in February. "…with independence comes responsibility
and that can be hard sometimes. But we
always have hope." Yes, there is
hope for Ed and ALL of our children as they walk their own journey through
life. As Ed handed me his cap, gown and
diploma, he said, "Here mom, you take this and keep it for me because I
did it for you." As I stared at him,
he quickly corrected, "For myself too."
Thank you so much to Lloyd, Val, Kathie, Justin and all of
the PSST parents. We could never have
done this alone.
Ed is employed and living independently in an apartment,
paying his bills (mostly), dealing with a landlord who has rules (gasp!), and buying
his own food and stuff. Currently he is drug
free. Ralph and I do not have to live in
Crazytown anymore, ether. We can leave
his apartment after visiting and live our lives. We do not have to be involved in his life and
can just enjoy visiting with him.
Last night, after graduation, the phone rang at midnight. It was Ed and he said his car had died. He had made it home by babying the car. Ralph talked to him about ways he could fix
the problem, at least for the short term. None of the ways required us fixing the
problem for him. For example, buying or
loaning him a car, giving him money or getting out of bed at midnight. We both had a tough time falling asleep after
that. It is hard to let your children
figure out life for themselves!
I hope our story helps others who may be discouraged and
ready to give up. No matter where this
crazy life with addicted children and behavior issues leads us, we always have
hope.
1 comment:
Alice,
Congrats to you & Ralph & Ed - you all achieved some very important milestones in life's journey! I can only imagine the pride you felt when Ed graduated, and the lump in your throat when he told you that he did it for you.
Ed has made a lot of progress in his ability to become more independent, something that you & Ralph have both nurtured in him. The lawn business that he had during high school was a huge help in teaching him responsibility, as was the tough love that you & Ralph have continued to show him.
Thanks for sharing your uplifting story!
Jenn
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