Stressors

Chaos

          I know that I am fortunate enough to not know anyone with any of the serious stressors in their lives. People in other countries have many more challenges than many of us will ever face in our lives. Although it may not be the worse thing people live through, I felt like the household my husband grew up in and the lasting results affected not only him in adulthood but all of us. His father was an alcoholic but was a very gentle kind man who never raised his voice and always appeared defeated looking to me. His mother would have been diagnosed as bi-polar by today's standards. After many years of my husband having the same traits, he finally got help as I continued to read books about narcissistic personality disorder and living with the self absorbed. I always knew that my husband had his mother's genes so I took full responsibility for my children and left him out of things like discipline. I did everything with my children. We sort of lived our own life while he was their Dad that just lived in our house. They didn't know any different.  After he came to his realization about how he was raised and what he was doing to his wife and children, he began to open up to me. He told me stories about his mother throwing knives across the room at his dad when he came home drunk. My husband lived in 11 houses before we got married. He recalled coming home from school and boxes were packed to move or coming home and various pieces of furniture or appliances were gone because she sold them to buy something she wanted. There was constant fighting that could have been avoided if she didn't feel the need to control every person's life. When my husband and I were dating, I got so tired of having her curse me and fuss at me that I just stopped talking. Then I was labeled as snobby. There was no winning. Sometimes the mind uses defense mechanisms to help you cope. That is what my husband must have done growing up but then when he wanted to replay the same scenarios in my home, I said we need help. I know many people live through worse but when I think of the definition of chaos, I think of my husband's household

 Haiti
    
         I know this is sort of a repeat of a previous blog but I am very passionate about children going hungry. The everyday things we take for granted would be luxuries for them. Many live in tent cities, no clean water, or no food. As a result of these conditions, there are various diseases that plagued the country. I've stated before that I cannot imagine being a mother that has to watch her children go hungry or watch them die before her eyes and there is nothing you can do. There are many organizations such as UNICEF and Food for the Poor that help to make the living conditions better by building homes, providing food, giving immunizations, and purifying the water. There is so many people that are not being helped. This country seems to be a magnet for natural disasters. As soon as organizations make some progress, it is set back by a disaster. Giving just a little money goes a long way for the people of Haiti.