Ladies, thanks for your heartfelt responses! I've got little tears of relief on my face.... Sonia snapped out of it, finally, and isn't snarling at the kids this week. She even shocked the hell out of us last night... she goes to bed pretty early, and the kids were hanging out with Raul and me in the livingroom... she came out to say good night very calmly, kissed Raul on the cheek as usual, kissed me on the cheek as usual, and then, God be praised, she kissed our little friends on their cheeks as well! I think she's sorry for her attitude, but can't manage to say so. That's OK with me, I think the kids understood pretty well!

Yes, she's going to go back and forth and up and down. She's showed me the medications she takes, and from what she's taking, I can't make out what her diagnosis might be. Three or four different anti-depressants/anti-anxiety meds and at least one anti-psychotic. Plus stuff to make her sleep (as though the rest of the stuff wouldn't make her drowsy!) But she had been on Prozac at some time in the recent past, and having just weaned myself off Prozac, I can well understand how a recent switch in meds might snatch the rug out from under her, emotionally....

I just can't be mean to her. I connect with her somehow. Somehow, I just know where she's coming from. I know she's needed a haven where no one's going to verbally or physically abuse her... where people respect her and she make her own choices as an adult (and get a little help when she's not thinking so clearly)....

Yeah, I tend to be a rescuer, but this is a little different. Mom just needs a hand up, so to speak... not a caretaker... and she does give back as she is able... so we do have a give and take. As long as we have some kind of give and take, it's all worthwhile. Even with her psychiatric problems, she's closer to me than my own mother was, and that really means something to me. Heh heh, just the fact that she never stands over me and tells me how I ought to be doing something, or making fun of the way I fold sheets or cut up vegetables, is a treasure to me.

Love,
Lil