Still, after six years, I cannot stop the self-recrimination that results from one of The Boy’s meltdowns: “I should have anticipated (fill in the blank)”.  It’s a constant subconscious stream of things I should have or could have done to avoid the situation, and why was I so stupid to forget them.

Of course, I don’t really think I’m stupid.  But in the heat of the moment, I blame myself for not being capable enough.

So here is my message to myself in the future when I feel this way (feel free to use it yourself, but you might want to insert your own name for maximum effect):

“Hey, Annie! Guess what? You can’t anticipate everything!! It’s not physically nor mentally possible. There’s no way you could know that xy&z were going to happen, causing The Boy to do ab&c. Stuff happens. You just have to do the best you can, try to roll with the ‘stuff’ as best you can, and hope that it will pass soon. Breathe…”

Thanks for letting me get that off my chest.  I know I’ll need to hear (read) it in the future.  I just hope I listen.