Hard Times…

My world had come crashing down.

My mom means the world to me, more than the world and I couldn’t bear the thought of losing her. ​Not long before I finished school, she was diagnosed with Breast Cancer. It seemed in that moment; my world had come crashing down.

We needed the support of everyone around us. It was a real test of loyalties and family ties. If anything, it brought us all closer. I was touched by the support we all received.

Though I received a great deal of support from certain people, I began to struggle at school both mentally and emotionally. The staff at the school was very understanding. They allowed me to have time to myself if things got too much. The head of year requested to see me every day after school to see if I was dealing with everything.

However, while the staff were understanding, maybe gave out some allowances and loosened the reigns on me, there were other challenges and struggles. Maybe my state of mind was the cause of it, but I started to argue with my best friend. This resulted in my best friend starting to hang out with a new group of friends.

Sad and in need of company, I started to spend time with other friends. I got the sense that by doing this it created a rift of jealousy amongst me and my best friend. However, she denied this. But there was definitely something different in our friendship that felt odd and distant.

I did not understand the new distance between us as we were both spending time with new groups and as I said in my previous post, I was only starting to learn and acquire social skills after being kept inside for most of my school life.

So as we spent more and more time apart, our agitation grew and this soon caused an argument between my best friend and me. You know what school kids are like, things can get pretty nasty. Comments were exchanged, I got hot-headed and I did something I regret. Good job my other friends were there but the damage was done. Because of that, I have been labelled as something I’m not. It still hurts and I don’t think it will ever fully heal.

I am sad that it ended that way but I am glad that I broke my friendship as my new friends helped me get through it. I was able to get a hold of myself, review and refocus on my school life again…

Following the Barcelona trip and my mom’s illness, I requested mentoring to be able to vent and talk through what had gone on. My mentor was brilliant.

As a coincidence, he was one of the teaching assistants that came on the trip with me and knew the truth about what had happened as well as one of the few people who knew the extent of my mom’s illness.

I really felt like I had someone on my side. I felt really confident and was able to tell him anything. The friendship I created with him didn’t stop out of our sessions; he was always there if I wanted to call on him.

My mentor always stuck to his word and went to speak to any of my teachers if I had issues in classes. This person was very supportive and helped me through school.

I was heartbroken when I heard that he had been asked to leave. Stupid recession.

Why on earth, did they let go of the nicest people—the ones that made a difference? First a small number of the nicest T.A.s—now my mentor. Could things have got any worse?