Carol Ann – How did you deal with stress at first?

It surprised me, because the strangest things happened. I didn’t close off, I didn’t close off the world—But I, I couldn’t have anybody touch me. It was the funniest thing, even if strangers brushed against me, I couldn’t have anyone touch me because I felt like I was going to burst. I had this emotional shell that was keeping me going. And, I couldn’t listen to music, I loved music, played the piano, I couldn’t listen to music because that was too emotional for me. And so, I didn’t realize this was happening at the time, but in hindsight, I just realized that, I just built this kind of emotional wall around me. And that’s what kept me, you know, kind of, I felt like if I broke that shell, I’d go over the edge. Another thing that I noticed when Darren had his accident, and I’m doing it now, and I’m very proud of the fact that I’m doing it now, I stopped crying. I, because I was afraid that if I let go, and I let the tears roll, they would never, ever stop, and I could never, ever get them in control again. So I stopped crying. But it took me a while to do that, and I can do that now, and it’s healthy, and I can do happy tears, and I couldn’t even do happy tears, because I just said, “once you start, Carol Ann, you’ll never stop.” But, I can do it again.