Dedicated to Robert

It was never my intention to let things pass me by.
However back in February life seemed to be perfect. I was working on creating my Etsy business, busy creating fabrics and other quilted treasures.
I was back living in a climate with four seasons which was wonderful.
I was spending time with my son who was going through some difficult times. His wife had decided to leave him the day before we arrived in Adelaide.
Christmas and his birthday in February were challenging as his wife was being particularly difficult in allowing him access to see his 6 year old daughter.
She filed for custody without giving my son the opportunity to discuss anything.
What followed was a difficult time of seeing lawyers, going to court where regular access to his daughter was granted.
However even though things on the surface appeared to be positive and moving forward it was apparently too much for my son.
Sadly in the early hours of May 24th he chose to take his own life.
You read about the effects this has on a family but it is only when it is your family do you truly understand what a life changing event it is.
We have been slowly getting back on track knowing that we will never be the same or even view life in the same way.
The craft that I enjoyed creating at times becomes too much as one has all that thinking time and your mind always goes back to wondering if you could have done something different.
There are certainly no winners in Suicide and I have since discovered that the way you are treated as being the mother of a person who has taken their own life is vastly different from someone whose child may have died from cancer or a road accident.
There are some fantastic support networks made up of people just like me and it does help to know what other people are dealing with.
And so I dedicate my blog to my son Robert who was just 33 years of age and to all the other people whose lives have been torn apart by this disease.
I have learned a lot about suicide since that day and we need to be more open in acknowledging it as one of the greatest threats to our society. It is growing at a rapid rate and here in Australia 6 people a day take their own lives, five of which are men.

Robert  20 February 1980 - 24 May 2013