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But I don’t know them, and I don’t know if that’s the case. As a parent, it’s heartbreaking for me to see you sing up there without their support in the audience (I did see your boyfriend though, and am so happy that you have him! ) As a parent, I can’t imagine anything that would make me withdraw my love for my children. As a parent, I can’t imagine anything that would make me do anything but continue to love them… fully, wholly, and unconditionally.

And it’s a weird and almost backwards way to make friends when you think about it. And so, finally, I’ve made a few local friends (I’m super, super good at making long-distance friends, but in person friends is a whole new realm of terror). There’s an art to making mom friends that I just don’t naturally have. But just because it’s harder for me doesn’t mean it’s impossible for me.

Too many people think that if you just believe hard enough, if you just pray hard enough, that God will take away your illness. It leaves those struggling with mental illness feeling as though it’s their fault, that they’ve fallen short, that their faith isn’t strong enough, and that they’re just not TRYING. It can be a delicate thing, dealing with mental illness – dealing with any kind of illness – when it comes to your friends or family. Simple words that go a long way to let someone know you care, that you don’t think it’s their fault, and that you know they just can’t “snap out of it.

Yesterday, a friend sent me a link to another Mean Mom blog post. The internet is full of these, and their praise is rampant