Life as a soap opera sidekick

It seems wrong to blog about other people’s problems. Even if they kind of become YOUR problems by virtue of you being around them.

The last week has been a bit of a roller-coaster ride, witnessing hysteria, panic, self-absorption, anxiety, and the occasional glimpse of the rational, level-headed person I’ve known for the past two years. While she calls it a “spiritual crisis”, I’m divided as to whether it really is a spiritual crisis, a penchant for melodrama, an anxiety disorder, and/or a severe lack of sleep.

As for me, I’ve been stomping angry, surprisingly patient and helpful, ruthlessly matter-of-fact, sleep-deprived, etc. … rinse, repeat, rinse, repeat. I hit my limit yesterday (when woken at 7:00 on a Sunday morning for advice, as she seemed to think her insomnia had reached the status of a medical emergency) and had to be rather hard in order to re-establish some boundaries that I felt she no longer respected.

Today, a relative contacted me at work because her family is frantic with worry for her. She, however, appears to have left the city on a retreat looking for someone she thinks can help her.

I’m fairly certain that things will turn out all right. But if you have any positive thoughts or prayers to offer, maybe send them her way. She could use them.