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31-DAY CHALLENGE
Day Fourteen: Something Embarrassing No One Knows
It wasn’t my finest hour.
Some might call me out of my mind for entering Keeley’s challenge, while others might crown me as brave. This is a brief assessment, but when I was locked up in a mental facility in my late thirties, doctors labelled me crazy daily. What can I say? I’m bipolar.
It wasn’t the first time I was in the hospital for severe depression and wanting to end my life. Suicidal ideation was a common symptom of the disease, so I’d voluntarily check myself into the hospital to keep myself safe. And so, on this lovely winter’s day when the snow flakes covered pine trees and ice threatened balance, I watched passersby through a solid glass window, trapped with strangers much sicker than me.
I loved country music and would regularly sign up for TV time to watch melodramatic videos of love, loss, and tears. That’s when Clara sat beside me. Also dressed in a hospital gown, our passion for the genre connected us. After several minutes, she turned to me and asked, “Do you like Vince Gill?” I shook my head. Her face grew red with anger in response.
“You don’t like Vince Gill?” she roared. “Bitch!”
Suddenly, the enraged woman got up from her chair and shuffled down the hall. But our…
