RECOVERING GRADY ADDICT

I will freely admit that I am an accomplished artist of spinning white lies. The kind you tell the cable company for sympathy so they will work with you to keep the internet and TV on. The kind that keeps bill collectors from blowing your phone up with harassing calls. The kind that spares someone's feelings when you forget their birthday. The kind that will excuse your expected presence from a family function you just don't feel up to making. Yeah, those are the little white lies I am really good at. Then there are black lies. The flat out malicious lies that ruin peoples' lives. The one's that cost people their jobs, wreck marriages, break up happy homes, tarnish reputations, turn children against parents. I could site examples, but why beat dead horses? Those lies you never recover from. Not really. You move on, but their scars are still ugly and painful. The kind of scars that never heal and go away. You spend your days trying not to dwell when you have been hurt by...

Where have I been? Somehow I missed this news story. Apparently a 20-something with Bi-Polar Disorder recently went ape-shit on an elderly lady on the subway. It was caught on video, and of course it then went viral on YouTube. Once she was arrested, the outcries for sympathy and understanding from the family went out to the local media. And subsequently TONS of vlogs came out in response to her actions, her arrest, her family, etc. All I can say is watch the video and form your own opinion. Be aware that this is FULL of vulgarities if you are going to view it around others. My personal opinion is that this is a disgrace! Bi-Polar or not. It was her responsibility to take her medication. It was a conscious choice not to do so, and therefore she should be held accountable for her actions when she didn't. If you choose to drink and drive, you have to answer for it when you are arrested or when you cause an accident. As far as the brother posting a plea on YouTube for sympathy and und...

Just after 3am my phone awoke with back to back phone calls. Unusual for my phone to ring at odd hours of the night these days. It was a phone call I feared I would one day get. The person calling has been of significant importance in my life for almost a decade, and we have seen each other through some seriously rough times. When I saw who was calling, I first thought she and her girlfriend had probably had THE fight. But this, sadly, was not the case. She and I had, together and individually, bailed her little sister out time after time. She had been in and out of psychotic and abusive relationships, battled addiction since she was a young teenager, and had three precious children before she was 21. My friend and I both feared that one day we would get a call from some police department that little sister had died of an overdose, had been beaten to death by a boyfriend, or whatever. It was an unpleasant and heartbreaking thought, but we were realistic. We prayed that day would never ...

My Aunt Shirley is pushing mmm I'd say 65-66 years old. She won't actually admit to me just how much older she is to my dad - who is 62 this year. Bless her heart, she gets on AOL and sends e-mails, forwards jokes, and occasionally has been known to IM. Not bad for a lady her age with no formal education. I am honestly impressed with her eagerness to keep up with friends and family by way of ye ole internet. So I sent her the links to my blog here, honestly because she has been digging at why I no longer work at Grady. Last night when I read my e-mail I got this touching reply: "What a wonderful touching e-mail about 9=11 (she addresses me by my family nickname that I will NOT share with you schmoes) you have a wonderful way of writing have you found a job? Im sure what ever you did at Grady it was good Im sure you got tired of all the people who used the hospital for a doctor office instead of going to the dr.But the job you are trained for is important I wish we had got ...