I have 3 children, all boys, and their names are Ethan, Nick, and Richard. Ethan and Nick currently live with me here in Oklahoma, and Richard is living with their father in Chicago. Of course, he is a big part of our thoughts and memories. It's a rather loooong story how he ended up there and the other 2 are down here. I miss him, and so do his brothers. And that's all I'm going to say about that - I will not go there anymore. It hurts too damn much.

So I'll talk about something that is REALLY positive in my life (besides my boys)

There is a wonderful organization I am a part of. It is called Thunderbird Clubhouse. This is a place where people with mental illness can go to do meaningful work, improve their social skills, financial skills, and also for rehabilitation from their mental illness.

I am schizophrenic these days (hopefully that will someday change) and I am a member of this clubhouse. Once a member of clubhouse, always a member - for life. This is a place that you can always go....

There are 150 clubhouses world-wide that is certified. Ours is one of them. Hopefully one day we will be a training base, we are getting there! We have finally reached our goal of $1.6 million to build a new facility.

I am in what is called the clerical unit. I help with statistics (keeping track of attendance, how many eat, adding up hours, and enter it into our billing system) I also like to help put our monthly newsletter, I am awesome at writing ;)

The people I have met at clubhouse are friends - also for life. The staff, the members... we all work together to keep the clubhouse functioning, as well as keeping us (the members) functioning. The lessons learned there on a daily basis teaches us how to cope in a therapeutic environment. Meaning, if we learn to cope with the people and skills at the clubhouse, it is therapeutic because we can take those skills and go out into the community - and be an asset to the community. Instead of being shunned for our mental illness.

Please check out the website of this wonderful place. You will be amazed.

God bless!
~Tera~