Kissing in basilicas

Jake took me to Rome for my birthday. We kissed in countless basilicas and were awe inspired by the power of the Roman Empire and the Vatican Empire. But it left me cold (and it was freezing!!!!) The Vatican was an altar to power , might , money, greed and fear. Love? Where? I couldn't discern it. Not easily found. But in the very last basilica we kissed in, I looked up into the top as usual. Each basilica has a telescopic array of domes stretching up to the sky- when you look up at them, you can see God looking down at you- 'Gods' with flowing beardsand fearsome eyes. This time I saw God again but a surprise awaited me. This 'God' was waving down at me. I shrieked. At last, God with a sense of humour! I laughed myself silly and waved back. Then I kissed Jake again, with even more passion than before!

Dealing with a schizophrenic mother

This has been an ongoing problem all my life as any one else with a schizophrenic mother will testify. One sister has now fully succumbed and the other is pretty ill and prone to severe debilitating panic attacks. I continue to float with my head above water. It is always a choice- to fall into the darkness or to constantly strive for the light. I have recently been attacked by my sister's social worker and taken to court in Melbourne Victoria twice- challenging my ability to make decisions for her. It is a lonfg dreadful story and I was thrown into the snakepit of darkenss, doubt, insanity, distress, suspected heart attcks etc for a year- I am now emerging. I now understand more fully what my mother Olga had to face when she was a new traumatised post ww2 immigrant to Australia. (faced by smug people, speaking a language she did not understand) who could not receive such terrible suffering and told her to 'pull herself together' I have finally had some acknowledgement from the head of VCAT (a tribunal in Melbourne) acknowledging the distress caused by a social worker who dragged me tgrough the courts. But it is one of those paradoxical things- I had to be dragged so low in order to understand my mother's suffering more.