From The Pretty Face That Hides Crazy To The Fam Behind It

Yesterday my second sister called to tell me that my almost 20 year old first nephew (my oldest sister's first child) had to be temporarily committed to a mental institution because of his threat to commit suicide. He'd told her that he'd ordered a rifle and was just waiting for the 72 hour waiting period to pass. Even as a Republican I had to thank God for that little monkey wrench thrown in to the law by Democrats to thwart the 2nd amendment.

I was a little stunned but not so much surprised since he's been suffering from depression for years (much like my oldest sister has severely in her lifetime) and had recently stopped taking his medication. My sister told me that they tried talking to him, and tried several ways to help him find reasons to want to live. When they ran through the list of reasons, he was insistent that his life wasn't worth living. They finally pointed out his girlfriend of over 2 1/2 years. "What about Courtney?" my sister asked. "She loves you! You love her! Isn't that worth living for?" my sister asked {I'm paraphrasing}. "I hate life more than I love her!" my nephew replied. So they Baker acted him.

I called my oldest sister today to find out how he was doing. She told me that he's "having a moment" and that he didn't want to talk to or see anyone. He especially didn't want anyone else in the family to know what was going on. "Hah!" she said to me as she relayed her reply to him. "If I didn't tell my family they'd kill me if they found out later on!" I laughed and said, "Yeah, there are no secrets in this family. He knows that!"

I then continued to tell her, "I was just talking to [insert TRS's name here] this morning about the situation, hoping he'd have more knowledge about gun laws in FL so he could help me think of a way to stop [insert my nephew's name here] from getting the gun when he gets out. TRS didn't have any answers and was shocked when I told him what was going on. 'That's my family!' I told him. 'It's in our genes. Some people have high blood pressure. Some people have arthritis. Some people have diabetes. Our family happens to have a trace of mental illness!' I let him know this is going on and that I've had my own issues with anxiety and depression so he's not captivated by my pretty face without realizing the crazy that comes with it. Pretty soon I'll let him know that if he wants to be part of this family he's got to take the good with the crazy, and there's only one way out...and that's in a box...but that can be arranged! If he decides he wants in, the family will let him know that if he ever wants out it wouldn't be that difficult to have someone pop up from Kenya, take him out, and disappear back into the bush!" My sister laughed and I followed with, "Yeah, I told him that I may just send everyone in the family a reminder note for my birthday this year:

Dear Family,

I'm looking forward to the upcoming holidays, but before we get together for Thanksgiving, please take your medication so we can all have a happy holiday!"

My sister laughed again and I continued with, "I could include coupons for Zoloft, Prozac, and other mental health medications. We could pass them out with the appetizers!" She laughed again when I said, "Better yet, we could greet each person at the door with a tray of pills and say, 'one for you, one for you, two for you' then we'd have a peaceful if not almost normal family gathering!" My sister laughed again and added, "We could give them a happy pill cocktail at the beginning of the day!" I think she gets it...I just hope TRS gets it too and decides he's up for the challenge.

I haven't heard from since he called this morning to see how I was and how everything was going. Hopefully my honesty and openness about my family and our flaws hasn't scared him away. If it has, he wasn't "the one" to begin with. If it hasn't, he may just be crazy enough to introduce him to the rest of the fam this year.