This has not been a good month for my family. My youngest daughter is fighting for custody of her oldest son. She is fighting a man who has not been in my grandson's life for twelve and one-half years. My grandson just turned thirteen. She is fighting a man that spent seven years in prison for statutory rape of a thirteen year-old girl. My daughter was fourteen when she got pregnant. She is beside herself with grief and fear that this man, this registered sex offender, will get partial custody or visitation with her son. At the same time her second son, ten years old, has just been diagnosed with scoliosis; her five year old daughter has an appointment with a cardiologist; the four year old has severe food allergies; and the baby, six months old, has craniosynostosis, a condition in which the soft spot closes too early. Her older sister, my second child, just found out that her husband of fourteen years has been "inappropriate" with two of her three daughters. He was arrested a week ago and will have his preliminary court hearing next week. Lives disrupted, innocence cheated, dreams shattered. Then there is my oldest daughter's half sister (from a different mother) who is twenty-eight and has just been diagnosed with a rare form of cancer.
Reality bites and bites hard. But, life goes on. You do what you can to make it through each day, to maintain a sense of the positive and to forge ahead despite the urge to pull the covers over you head and sleep the pain away. My daughters are strong women, stronger than they know, and they will come out of these trials stronger, and they will protect and love their children through whatever comes.