The Unexpected Walk-in

I was born in 1949 to a very young mother and a father who wasn’t really ready for the responsibility of a family. They got married because I was on the way and in those days you didn’t see young unmarried mothers—they either gave up their babies or married the fathers. In my parents’ case, they chose marriage. Life in my family was anything but perfect and as time went by, my parents divorced, as my mother was mentally ill. This illness was one that would haunt not only her but several of her children, as well as mine. It went back many generations. The story involves the mental illness, religious teachings and finally a suicide attempt with a remarkable event that was decided well before my birth. I became a Walk-In.