Two negatives equal a positive.

This week I'm not alone. Christina is staying with me. We were supposed to get her driver's license, but it turned out that you need to schedule an appointment to take the road test. She'll have to wait until next Tuesday.
It's good for the two of us to spend some quality time together. I'm still not sure how I feel about the kids living with their father, but maybe I do need some time to myself to get my mind back in order. Time for just me, and only me. It certainly can't hurt. Or can it? Is it good to be alone? I don't plan on isolating myself, in fact, I was thinking of moving into the same apartment complex that my sister lives in.
I've also thought about living up in Weeki Wachee if I don't find a job in the next week or two. Now, way up there, I would be isolated from my family, but closer to some friends. Free room and board. Good Lord, I hate making decisions. I hate searching for employment too. Who ever knew if would be so difficult to find a nursing job? I guess thinks are tough all over.
Part of me wonders if I'm even ready to go back to work. Will I be able to handle the stress? My therapist and doctor seem to want me to work. I think it's more of a test to them, to see if I can handle the stress. I'll say one thing, all these job rejections aren't doing wonders for my low self esteem.
"If you don't like how you're feeling, then change how you're thinking." I've heard this quote so much lately, you'd think it would be ingrained into my brain by now. I've got to start thinking positively. Think of a positive reason for everything that happens, instead of being so negative all the time. Lets try it! I probably didn't get that Home Health Care job I've been wanting so badly. Positive swing: it's because there is an even more ideal job out there that I haven't found yet. How was that? Is it believable? Most importantly, I have to believe it. I'll keep trying.

Alone again, naturally.

It's been over a week since I've updated my blog. For those of you wondering where I've been, I spent five days in the hospital last week for another overdose. I don't know why I keep doing this to myself. My life gets worse every time I do it. It's just that when I become suicidal, it comes on sudden, I get impulsive and do very stupid things. My daughter called 911 and they came within minutes. I can't describe how humiliating it was to be taken away on a stretcher while still fully conscious. I saw my daughter's face as the carried me off...how could I do this to her...again?

My husband decided it was in the kids' best interest to take them to West Palm Beach, where he lives, until I fully recover. I can't say that I disagree with him. I haven't exactly been an ideal parent in these past nine months since my initial overdose. I can't help but feel like a failure as a mother to have my kids taken away. "Unfit mother," God! I never thought those words would describe me. I do feel grateful that my husband is taking them and not the state.

Michelle, my oldest daughter, moved away with my grandson on Monday. I have mixed feelings on her departure. She's 18 and married, so it was only a matter of time before she left anyway. I'm almost certain that my less than predictable behavior was responsible for her decision to move now, instead of in September. She didn't simply move out of the house, she moved from Florida to California, so it's not like I can drop in on her anytime. I won't get to see Marcus as he grows, other that through photos. **cry**

Rather than stay in the big empty house, I've been staying with my parents. I think they like having my close, so they can keep an eye on me. My father and I take our pills together. I almost take as many as he does...and he's got a heart condition!

A single gardenia.

In my garden today is a single beautiful gardenia. I had thought the gardenias had stop blooming for the season, but there it is. To me, its like a symbol of hope. Just when you think nothing in life is going right, a single gardenia blooms to show me that there is light at the end of the tunnel. I am going to be okay. It just may take a little time to sort my life out, but it will be sorted out. I'm going to survive. Thank you, little gardenia flower, for reminding me.

My job search

My job search is becoming more productive in the past few days. I had an interview with a home care company yesterday. It went well. They just have to check my references and then I should hear back from them. It would be the most awesome, perfect job for me. For backup, I have interviews at two hospitals next week. One of them being the hospital I worked at for seven years, and the interview is with my old manager. I'm very certain I would get hired there. So now, I might have to decide where to work for a change. I could do part time at both places until I know for sure that I like home care nursing. Now I'm being over confident. I better stop that.

I keep oversleeping this week. I've missed my group therapy two days this week due to over sleeping. That's not good, I really need to keep going. I have a lot of guilt inside for some of the choices I've made in the last couple of years. I feel like I've been a terrible mother. On one of my job applications, it asked if you've ever been investigated by the state for child abuse or neglect. Well yes, in Connecticut, DCS accused me of child neglect for not leaving my abusive husband. I tried to appeal it, but it still stands. So I suppose if someone does a background check, it will show a record of child neglect. It's pure bullshit really. I was trying to keep my family together during difficult times, I wasn't neglecting Christina.

When I finally did leave Joe, I took Christina and left the other two kids behind. So I feel guilty about leaving them behind, but I thought it was in their best interest to finish the school year. They had been moved around so much in the past few years. Now I feel bad that I left at all. I feel like I stole Michelle's senior year from her. She would have stayed in school and graduated with all her friends if I hadn't left. On the other hand, I would have still been neglecting Christina by not protecting her from her father. I guess it was a no win situation. No wonder I had a nervous breakdown.

Today Michelle is mad at me because I didn't go get flour for her to make gravy. She says she's not going to cook anymore. Now, I don't feel guilty for having her cook and I don't feel guilty about not getting flour. I was dressed for bed already and it was raining outside, and you don't have to have gravy. Grrrrrr! She doesn't go to school and she doesn't work, so no, I don't feel bad that she cooks all the time. She likes cooking and I don't anymore. She can do her part around the house, she is 18. I feel guilty enough about so much, but I'm not going to let this bother me.

I'm tired of me

I so tired of being depressed. My life is just plain miserable right now. I can't find a job, and I've never had that problem before in my life. All you ever hear anyone say is "nurses are in such high demand right now!" Well, none of those people ever searched for a nursing job. I suppose part of the problem is that I'm looking for a day shift job. I've only ever searched for night shift. I guess its a lot easier to find a night shift job, but I'm sick of that. It messes with your sleep cycle too much and I don't need that while I trying to recover from depression.

Well, I do have a job interview on Wednesday with a well know home health care agency. I suppose I should stay positive about that. I suppose I have a chance if I have an interview. I hope I don't blow the interview. This is the type of job I really want to do. I am so sick of working myself to death in hospitals with ungrateful patients and ungrateful management. I wonder, what types of questions will he ask me? I have to be prepared. I still need to get a physical before the job interview too. I'm embarrassed to list all the meds that I'm on. Do I have to list them all, I wonder. I most definitely have to list the ativan, in case I'm drug tested.

I am certain to get a lecture by my therapist on Monday, for letting Joe spend the weekend. "You're either together or you're separated, you can't be both!" I can hear it already. They way I see it, Joe's not my enemy. We both realize that we can't live together anymore, but there's no reason we can't be friends. He is one of the few people in my life that understands my depression. I don't think he's enabling me to not make friends. I just can't make friends, I'm painfully shy, have been all my life. It seems like every time I start making friends, something happens to them, or they want to be more than friends, stupid things like that.

I really miss Jeana, she's was the best friend I've ever had, but now she's always too busy for me. Won't even take a few minutes to write to me. I know she's got problems of her own, but that's all the more reason we need to talk to each other. I'm going to go write her a letter right now.