In response

Art is always open for interpretation. Every person sees this world through their own eyes. I have two friends with very different opinions of the Mona Lisa. One thinks she looks a bit constipated, the other finds her countenance demure, unassuming. I don't have an opinion, about the Mona Lisa anyway. Written word is no different and faces the same scrutiny all other art forms face when presented to the public. What one pulls from what they read can be quite different from what the author intended. It can be right on too. That all depends on who the reader is and what life experiences they are basing their opinions upon. I think what the artist's followers sometimes forget is that the artist is not painting or drawing or sculpting or writing with any of them in mind, but for release and for the sake of art itself.
I have shared the details of my family's journey over the last couple of years. There have been other blogs that have since been retired and/or are on hiatus for one reason or another. This blog serves the purposes of my family best for now. It allows for my creative juices to flow while staying true to the facts of what this life has to offer or to take away. I feel some of you relate and at times commiserate. I think some don't quite get it, and others are completely on board. Some find escape, hope, adventure, a life more or less ordinary by clicking a link and reading the thoughts that I pour into the big wide world of cyberspace.
Ultimately, this is my life. I choose to share and I fail to see how that makes me anything other than honest. I am a human and so too is my husband, my children and all the others who at some point may make it into my posts. None of us are so above being humble and feeling humility. In fact, sometimes a show of humility is the very thing that makes or breaks a decision. And while I feel the way I do, and act accordingly, I do not choose to put anything in my posts that would truly embarrass anyone, including and most specifically, my husband. Ask him, he'll tell you.
I can't help but find it strange, that the barrage of insults and "reprimands" that have been hurled in my direction, have come not from well informed people, but people who only think they understand my intentions and our situation. Believe me, you do not. And from the very small group of people who actually know of the issue Dustin and I are faced with, not one insult, not one reprimand, not one negative comment directed at either Dustin or myself. It helps to be informed before you make a judgement call. It helps to keep your comments to yourself if you do not know what the true issue at hand is. It helps to know what you are defending before you attempt to defend it.
My family, being the 5 of us, appreciate the show of support we are receiving from our friends and some extended family. I have taken time out of my day and space out of my blog to explain something that really shouldn't need explaining. If you are concerned, call. If you want to help, offer. If you have a resource we do not know of, share. If you want to comment on my writing, do so here. If you do not like reading what I put in my posts, don't. And if you have nothing good to say, say nothing at all. That's what my momma taught me anyway. This life is hard enough without the people who claim to love you making it harder. A lesson Dustin and I are still learning 12 years into this marriage.
We will continue to learn. We will continue to fight this fight. We will continue to pull our boots up and wade through the crap until we find that light we've so been searching for, and then we'll probably have to wade some more. Most importantly though, we will continue to love. That is the road we started down so long ago and neither of us is willing to see this latest stumbling block as a dead end, but instead another one of those lessons in life that hurts like hell but teaches you volumes about where you are and what you have. I can only tell you one thing for certain at this point -- this day is gone, and tomorrow is a new one.