By the age 8 or 9, Mindy and I were already noticing some behavior and learning issues with our son EJ, and that's when our wild ride began.

Those "issues" turned out to be temper tantrums, acting-out behavior, depression, and a triple XL case of Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD). It was 1992, when EJ turned 8, that we knew we needed to find him some professional help, because we had tried just about everything.

Ethan James and Pops at the Suicide Prevention Walk at Tarrywile (9/2017)
Ethan James and Pops at the Suicide Prevention Walk at Tarrywile (9/2017)
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I remember thinking for the very first time, "Why isn't there an all-inclusive professional manual on child-rearing that had a chapter or two about how to handle EJ's types of issues and behaviors?" I remember the yelling and the screaming from both EJ and the two of us as we did our best to calm him down during uncontrollable outbursts. Often times, we beat ourselves up thinking we were the most horrible parents on the planet.  

Little did we know that this was just the beginning of a ginormous life-like roller coaster ride that the three of us were certain would eventually crash and burn, because as EJ entered his middle and high school years, all hell broke loose!

Over the next 30 days, I'll go into greater detail about what my son, EJ's life was like and how it affected our family. I'll leave you with a song he wrote about his battle with Borderline Personality Disorder:

 

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