Come to My Window(And Watch the Children Burn)
I can, however, repost the comment I posted there, and so I will. It's moment I think on only in my darkest hours, the hours when I consider the bottle of pills or the knife in the drawer or a quick roll into oncoming traffic. I think on it when I'm running out of road, a circumstance that happens more often the older I get.
Anyway, here is my comment:
When I was nine, the Shriners' Hospital performed an adductor-hamstring release surgery. My mother, who was in denial that CP was forever, thought that once it was over, I would be "normal". My doctor tried to explain that at best, I would be able to walk with a walker around the house. She didn't want to hear it.
After three months in thigh-high casts, the doctors cut them off and sent me home with the warning to take things slowly because my muscles were weak. As soon as we got home, my mother ordered me out of the car and told me to walk to the house. Up a hill.
I told me mother I was tired and begged her to let me walk on the flat, carpet ground inside the house. No. I was normal now. I had to walk. She hadn't gone through all this so I could be lazy. I kept begging, but she didn't care.
Five feet, and my legs are wobbling badly. My shoulders are burning from the effort of staying balanced. My Achilles tendons are throbbing. I'm crying and begging, telling her it hurts. What does she do? She picks up a stick and starts whacking the backs of my legs. Of course, I start jerking and screaming, and she's whaling away, screaming about how lazy and ungrateful I am about having such a wonderful opportunity to be fixed.
I'm nine years old and being beaten with a stick by my mother because I hurt. Those are the memories that fuck you up and make you question your worth. If your mother is beating your ass because you can't walk, how much can you possibly matter to anyone else? Certainly you're worth less than the other kids, because most sane people don't beat animals that way, much less their children.
My stepfather eventually ran out, wrenched the stick away, and threatened to use it on her. He carried me into the house, where I had exhaustion tremors and cramps for the rest of the night.
The damage was done, of course. Walking wasn't an accomplishment. It was an act performed to keep my mother at bay. Everything I do now isn't predicated on enjoyment, but on being "good enough" to live.
CP parents are so wrapped up in feeling gypped by God that they don't realize they're passing their resentment and bitterness on to their children. And believe me, those rotten gifts linger long after the parents wise up and appreciate their "broken" children.
These are the shadows that move in my head; these are the poisons that move my tongue; these are the lashes that drive my fingers to write dark music with my keyboard of wormwood and asphodel. These are the moments that make me think it would be better if I never woke up.
I promise a more cheerful post tomorrow, but tonight, there just isn't enough goodwill to keep the mask in place.

shocked
amused
gloomy