This fall my youngest daughter came to live with me, her mother, after five years of trying to bribe her unsuccessfully while she was living with my ex-husband and his new wife who slandered me to the point of no return. With intentions of going to University that later changed because I persuaded her to go to College, I convinced her to live with me and going to a nearby campus instead of going out of town and paying all that extra money for lodging which neither she or I could afford but these kids think money grows on trees.

Here’s the catch, my daughter is not in good health. She was a victim of bullying at elementary school, started to develop health problems, which I’m convinced, were triggered by stress, and was diagnosed with a condition that causes stroke-like seizures, one of the side effects being the loss of hearing. Thanks to technology she is able to hear with a cochlear implant and a processor.

She started her first semester at College and after several months passed she dropped half the courses because she was physically unable to keep up with the workload. She plans on taking next semester off and starting again in September and taking a lighter course load. This means it will take her twice as long to finish the course, but who cares? Not me. She tires very easily (it’s part of the illness), is unable to walk long distances and it takes days to recuperate after she’s pushed herself to the limit. I’ve driven her to school and back since it’s not too far out of the way from work and I tried everything I could to help her succeed. Taking the transit system would have been a disaster. She also insisted on working part-time. I tried, I tried and tried to talk her out of it. I’m sure she thinks it shows that she can handle responsibility. She keeps telling me I can’t run her life but then it’s me who has to take care of her when her health deteriorates.

Needless to say, I worry about her, always.

The other day my youngest daughter, I suppose, was tired of staying in the apartment and decided to take a short walk across the street to the Mall to buy a magazine. I remind her often to call me when she is leaving the apartment but she has a bad memory and forgets. So, just out of the blue that’s what she did. Nothing wrong with that. Walking home from the Mall she crossed the main street and then proceeded to cross the side street. According to her, she wasn’t paying attention and next thing you know ----- she was hit by a car, which was travelling at a low speed, lucky for us both. It was just a bump but enough to knock her off her feet and the driver was quite distraught offering to drive her home and call the Police. My youngest daughter, being distraught herself and feeling she was partly to blame because she wasn’t paying attention, insisted that she was fine and picked herself up and walked back to the apartment, which was less than five minutes away.

Well, I suppose when she arrived home she panicked and wondered if she had done the right thing, so she decided to call her boyfriend’s mother, not HER MOTHER, to ask for advice because she’s a nurse. Her advice was to call 911 – and that she did without calling me because she didn’t want to worry me at work. They arrived and whisked her off to the hospital for an examination and also to file a Police Report but without knowing the driver’s name or license plate number there wasn't much point. There were minor bruises and a few scratches.

I then get a phone call at work from the ambulance driver to give me the low down. “There’s no rush in getting to the hospital,” he said, “she’s fine.” So I left work right away but didn’t rush to get to the hospital and was greeted at the Emergency Ward by two Police Officers who also briefed me on the situation. She wasn’t actually seen by the doctor because they didn’t feel it was necessary but it was up to me. I decided to have her examined, since we were there, to make sure there was no concussion.

She was given a clean bill of health and we drove home.

It cost me $7.50 to park in the Emergency parking area and about a week later I received a bill for $45.00 for Ambulance Services, peanuts really when you think of the service you get, but being broke and on a line of credit it was just another step backwards. It’s been a downhill slide ever since I set foot in the Courthouse for divorce proceedings (that left me without support for me or my children, the lawyers wouldn’t have it any other way) and a Children’s Aid matter just before that, both unnecessary steps that we were obligated to follow through with.