Old Sarge Introduction

[GAW9576]

Absolutely. I enjoy most of the process and we go to a community day each Monday and go over the weeks lesson materials. It is a great group and gives the kids time to interact with others their age. Homeschooling also allows me to keep an eye on my kids development more closely. I struggled with severe depression from a very young age and it can run in families. I'm really glad I can talk to my kids about it and watch to be sure they don't struggle with it. I didn't talk to anyone about it until I was 29 and that was only the beginning of a long struggle to get to the point I'm at now we're its not a constant problem. I'm 44 now and have had very little struggle with the depression for the last 4 years.
There are struggles with homeschool and I have to remind the older 2 that public school wasn't any easier, especially with the amount of homework they came home with each day.

I'm sure your oldest is getting to the point with the others not far behind where they want to participate in some sort of sport of activity. Then it will be game on when you get all three going three different directions at the same time! 

Yeah, depression is a tough nut. Runs in my family and quite frankly I know about it first hand and really don't talk about it. Having done twenty years in the military, there is quite the stigma surrounding mental health. Once you attain a certain rank and more importantly, once you get a security clearance, you've really got to go in the closet with any mental health issues. Considering the last twenty years and many troops deploying in and out of war zones on an all too regular basis, the military did change a bit in dealing with PTSD. Having been retired almost 12 years to the day and no longer working a contractor position where a security clearance was involved, it's difficult not to still just suck it up and carry on like I did for so many years!

I know we're well off the shaving talk, but since this is my introduction thread and it's been great getting to know folks I guess we are OK.

Good chat!

Yeah so far the kids haven't been interested in any activities. We live in the country though and have chickens and quail they take care of. We also have a 14' by 25' greenhouse and several gardens they help with. That and we are pretty involved with church and do a lot with friends. So we are pretty busy without sports or other organized activities.

I think Americans in general are pretty tight lipped about depression men more so than women and I can definitely see we're it would be even more so in the military. I have found that talking about it has been the best therapy. That and my faith and involvement in our church were we have made some really good friends that we get together with a lot. The meds they had me on for a while certainly didn't help. In fact they made things a lot worse. Luckily I've been of all meds for many years now. I know they can be beneficial for many people but my experience with them was very rough.

Yeah we are definitely off topic for a shave forums but like you said this is your introduction thread so the topic is pretty much anything you want to talk about.