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THE POWER OF CONSCIOUS CHOICE
ChApTEr 16
THE POWER OF
COnSCIOuS CHOICE
By rOBErT viTELLi
Iwas at my dad’s house in New Jersey one weekend night watching
TV when the phone rang. I jumped up to answer it — it was my
mom. Her voice sounded very strange. “You’re going to be staying
with your dad, honey,” she said “Mommy’s going to heaven tonight. I
just wanted to say goodbye.”
Though I was only eight, I knew instantly what that meant. Mom had
been severely depressed for a long time; she was a stressed out single
mom, running herself ragged working seventy-five hours a week and in
a pretty unhealthy relationship to boot.
“Dad,” I shouted, panicked. “I think Mom’s trying to kill herself.” He
rushed to the phone. “Are you okay? What’s going on?” he asked. I
heard her crying on the other line. “Stay where you are. You’re going
to be alright.” He hung up with my mom and immediately called 911.
An ambulance rushed to our apartment in New York just in time; she
had downed several bottles of prescription medication. They pumped
her stomach and just barely saved her life.
I spent the next ten-plus years trying to save my beloved, fragile mom
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