Rolling the boulder uphill

Life sometimes is unmanageable, no matter how simple it may seem to others.  A daughter in college, struggling through first semester with an anxiety disorder as well as developing mononucleosis, doubles the strain on her as well as challenging Mom to keep her healthy, motivated and keeping her scholarships active.  A son in high school, also diagnosed bipolar, whose half-time father tells him to ‘man up’ and outgrow his need for meds so that he can go into the military and not waste money by failing out of college.  A relationship between a man and woman, challenged by a combined total of five divorces and a mutual unwillingness to put the teens through the stress of yet another step-parent. The death of a parent with Alzheimers, and the mutual assurances that it is for the best, yet painful.  The economic challenges of surviving on disability income without making the family feel deprivation and uncertainty.

And yet, somehow, it works.  There is compassion, and mutual understanding, and joy.  There is laughter and love, challenges and successes.  But the existence, the day-to-day struggle, the never-ending appointments with therapists and psychiatrists, the unending medication refills; no matter how well this day has been accomplished, the ongoing burden of bipolar will be there in the morning.  And sometimes, it feels like the battle will never end.