The ITA isn’t on me this time. In Washington State it’s called the Involuntary Treatment Act… Poor parents, it seems like it’s just one son after another. It’s sad that they have the number on speed dial.
My youngest brother has been out of sight and out of mind for over a week now. I’ve been savoring how wonderful it’s been to be out of the loop. But I knew that loop would find us.
Yesterday was St. Patrick’s Day and the youngest brother decided to honor the Irish blood in our family by not just having a small tumble off the sobriety wagon, but throwing himself under the wheels of the wagon.
The lad got more then blindingly drunk. (There is more then just alcohol to this). Drove our kid sisters car over to our parents house, and drove it into the back yard without opening the gates and then proceeded to trash my kid sisters car… again. Leaving bits of it all across our parents property. He then stood in our parents back yard and threatened to commit suicide. He also threatened to kill his ex-girl friend, (she’s well out of this state now so she’s safe) and I guess around 2:00 a.m. tried to set fire to our parent’s garage. Then I’m told he just let go of all sense of lucid self and had one heart breaking melt down in our parents back yard and did manage to gash himself open enough to need stitches.
My Mom called the King County Crisis and Commitment Services when all this first started amping up, and they came with their trained back up and my youngest brother has been involuntarily committed. He got taken to Harbor View Medical where I’m sure his stomach was pumped… because that is what they do. I’m sure he’s sedated and then will be stabilized because that is what they do. Then it will be suicide watch and then assessment because that is what they do.
I haven’t gone and seen him yet. He’ll be out cold right now anyway. I hate to admit this… but I went back to bed after my kid sis got the phone call. I managed to calm her down and convince her to go back to bed too. My parents are heartbroken I’m sure. The cycle begins again. I will be going over later today to see how they are. But I’m not that worried about him for some reason.
I am just so relieved that he’s finally forced into getting some help. It’s not that I don’t feel for him. I don’t want any one to suffer. It’s just, I’ve been there, step by step, I know exactly what part of Harbor View he’s in and I bet I even know which head nurse is looking after him.
For some reason, I’m fine with it. I bet some of my family is more then surprised that I can get news like this and just go back to bed. I do feel a like a bad person for being so Ok with this. But I can not help it… Today is a sigh of relief. No more morning letters, no more bullying, no more looking out for the worst. No more waiting for the shoe to drop. It’s dropped and now the healing can begin. I know exactly what part of the Candyland game board he’s on… it’s not the candy cane forest.
But for me, it’s a good day. He didn’t hurt anyone driving around drunk… amazing. He didn’t physically hurt our parents or anyone around him. He didn’t get shot by police. Hopefully my youngest brother will have an easier time due to the fact that my parents have seen this all before.
I do feel like a bad person for feeling so relieved.