terrible news

We discovered on Sunday that Emily's bio-mom, Tina, died on Saturday night.

We're not sure of all the details, but it seems that it was suicide and the entire family is devastated.

We had a terribly acromonious relationship with Tina. When she was younger, she was a kind hearted girl with some problems but eventually those problems became all consuming. She'd been abused by her father, who was mentally unstable and cruel, she tended to pick men that were addicts or alcoholics, and she was never the same after her surgery in the year 2000 - that was when her addiction to oxycontin started and it never ended until Saturday night.

In many ways, I am now relieved. For Em, certainly, who rode the rollercoaster along side us for the last few years. I'm relieved that she'll stop threatening to take us back to court, I'm relieved that she'll leave Bill alone (who was the love of her life, based on her actions of the last few years) and I'm relieved for Tina, who must have dealt with much of the same fear and shame as my late husband, Dale. If it was anything at all like that, may she rest in peace.

She was only 38 years old. It doesn't seem real.

I'll be back tomorrow. I'm off to read a few blogs before heading to school.