Kids Reactions
A few items have brought up the topic of Mom again with the kids – all initiated by them, BTW.
The first was while my wife was driving home with the kids from spending the weekend at their aunt’s house. The kids wanted to know how many messages I had gotten at work and on my cell while they were gone. When my wife told them that there were only two, my daughter said that Mom ‘must have gotten bored, or found someone else to torment’. Out of the mouths of babes….
The other was with my youngest son. While he was changing in the locker room after swimming lessons, he saw some graffiti on the wall where someone had written ‘bitch’. That upset him because it was the term that Mom frequently used to refer to his mother. Sad, but that’s the kind of memory they are going to have.
Also, I’ve been thinking quite a bit about how long mom has gone untreated (not undiagnosed, but untreated). I’m thinking that the chemical imbalance that causes bipolar is probably damaging parts of her brain, and the longer it goes unmanaged the less likely it is that any meaningful recovery will be possible – similar to the way that untreated hypertension or diabetes permanently damage organs to the extent that eventually treating the disease doesn’t help significantly. Once the damage is done, it is not reversible. Not pleasant thoughts at all.
My Bipolar Mother 
Please forgive me for this, I know that it isn’t fair. But your blog makes me incredibly grateful that my husband is one of several children.
Some members of my husband’s family, especially his biological mother, are just flat out horrible. They pulled some pretty mean stuff before our wedding. He just stopped having anything to do with them. I have often tried to get him to re-establish contact, to try again. Courtesy of your blog and a recent encounter with my sister-in-law, I am done.
Thank you – you may have just saved me and my children a whole lot of grief.
Anonymous: As the saying goes, you can pick your friends, and you can pick your nose, but you can’t pick your family. If your husband’s family is content to leave him alone as long as he ignores them, then I’d just let it be. That sounds fairly appealing to me.