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Reflections in Recent Years and Into the Present
Lynne Cadorette
Psy 108


THE YEAR 2003 was an overwhelming year for me. This was the year my husband and I adopted our grandchildren and made them our own. Jason just turned two, and Ivy Mae was not even a year old yet, I had an extended family at the age of 47. I could no longer just walk out the door anytime I pleased, late night dinners were out, and weekend getaways no longer existed.
Friends, (or whom I thought were friends), quit calling. They did not understand that the babies came first. No longer were they the highest on my priority list. The perception they showed, when I had time for them, illustrated to me just how thoughtless, uncaring and whining they really were.
The first few months were the hardest. I realized, at the age of 47, I was not as young as I used to be. I became depressed, and it seemed that everything I did was just for the babies. I was losing my identity. I was not doing anything that I enjoyed in life; playing the piano, embroidering, reading a good book, or taking time for a “good” friend.
I decided it was time to reach out and ask for help. All these years of giving people advice, it was time to take my own recommendations and get back into the world of the living.
Current events in 2003 became quite interesting to me. The United States invaded Iraq, US troops captured Baghdad, and Saddam Hussein’s regime fell two days later. Then the May 2003 Tornado Outbreak Sequence in the United States was a series of tornado outbreaks that occurred from May 3 to May 11, 2003. Tornadoes began occurring over the affected area on April 30th, but the most prolific continuous period was the seven day period of May 4-10. There were 401 tornado reports in 19 and 1 states Canadian province, 1,587 reports of large hail, and 740 reports of wind damage.[1] More severe weather broke out this week alone than any other week in U.S. history.[1]...