If you are a loyal reader of this blog, then you have been following my sons story. You can read about that Here.

It has not been an easy few days, however, in the midst of it all, hiding behind  the glory of cell phones, there was a glimmer of light, a glimmer of laughter, that my father, unbeknownst to him, provided.

The first night was bad, very bad. This was the night where my son had his breakdown, he hit his rock bottom and he hit it hard. In the middle of his breakdown, out of the blue, my niece decides to text me. A cute little random text that talked about her anxiety. So of course I do what any sane rational mother does, I lay all of this on her. I lay it all on my niece who, her, herself struggles with anxiety…and depression. #AuntFail

In the heat of the moment I told her (via text) that it was now her job to update everyone while my husband and I were dealing with our son. What did she have to update you may ask? Well….I will tell you. It seems that during my sons breakdown, I had my very own breakdown, and like any rational person does…..I brought it to Facebook. My status was something along the lines of…

“Feeling broken, now I know what the last chapter of my book is going to be.”

I know. You do not even have to say it. I know.

So…..because of my dramatic status in the heat of the moment, my family started to ask questions. Questions that I could not reply to, so I put my niece, my niece who struggles with anxiety and depression, I put her in charge of updating my poor family who probably thinks I am ready to take my own life. #FacebookFail

Now, in the midst of my sons breakdown and my dramatic Facebook post, and my niece updating everyone, this is what happens. My dad, my very wise all-knowing dad, took the time in the wee hours of the morning in a suburb of Houston, to text my son, his first grandchild. He texted him a nice thought out, caring, sentimental message. Uplifting, just letting my son know that he has a lot of people both thinking about him, and worried for him. This is my dad for you, always putting everyone else before him. There was just one tiny problem. He sent the text message to the wrong person.

So of course, I laughed. I laughed so hard I had tears coming out of my eyes. I laughed so hard because I needed a distraction from my reality, and my dad, along with his clumsy fingers, provided that.

The next day, when everything had somewhat settled down, I was able to talk to my dad on the phone.

“Hello”

“Hey Jen……So did hear how I texted the wrong person?”

Did I hear about it? At this point the entire family had decided this is going to be the running joke, Dad and his new BFF…Vern.

Allow me to paint the picture. My dad, assuming he was texting AJ, my son, texted Vern instead. When Vern calls back, my dad in his moment of glory, thinking it’s AJ,  is all like “Yes, I got to him, my text reached him, AJ is reaching out to me.” Except, no. Not quite.

“Hey AJ, how ya doing bud!”

“Yeah, hello there, I saw you texted me, is everything okay, I think you have the wrong person.”

And that ladies and gentleman is how this faceless person name Vern, is going to be a lifelong topic at family gatherings. I believe my sister even suggested that my dads next tattoo should be “Vern.”

Also, if anyone is curious about the infamous text message that was supposed to go to my son, but went to Vern instead, well…..you’re welcome.

Really, what else can you do but laugh? You find the small moments in darkness and you laugh, you cling to them and bask in the laughter, because we do not know how long it will last.

Although according to my son, it will last for a very long time.

Laughter, finding the light in the darkness.

~Jennifer