In October we published writings by Barbara Hale-Seubert here for you. These articles, below, were considered for inclusion as an Apendix in her book 'Riptide'. Each year ClearPath Healing Arts sponsors an Annual Erin Leah Robarge Memorial Seminar, an event that is centered around education on Eating-Related Disorders,  and each year we are touched by the people effected by, struggling with and overcoming painful situations. We decided to put the unpublished stories here to encourage and remind all readers... YOU ARE - NOT ALONE.

Here is Barb's introduction and links to each story.

Not Alone.

I am not alone. That is what I learned as I spoke with friends and was referred to other parents who had a child who was eating disordered, struggling with some form of addiction, and often also mentally ill. I wanted to learn about their experiences, and found that, in my small sample of mothers and fathers, many of my doubts, fears, and unanswerable questions were part of their experience, as well. Despite the pain and on-going grief they shared with me, I was reminded again and again of the power we all have not only to survive, but to thrive. Though faced with impossible choices and faded dreams, every one of these parents dug deep, through the muck and mire of grief that seemed, at times, to engulf them, to find an enduring strength and the capacity to persevere. My hope is that among these stories, you will find solace in knowing that you, too, in your efforts and tears, are not alone.

As each of these stories demonstrates, every parent has to discover for him or herself at what point trying to save your child from drowning in his or her disease will pull you under, as well. There’s no Google map for destination Health and Happiness. You can only start where you are, with the willingness to honor the guidance within you and the awareness that your humility is also your strength.

As Kahlil Gibran wrote long ago in the Prophet:

And a woman who held a babe against her bosom said, "Speak to us of Children."
And he said: Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you, And though they are with you,yet they belong not to you.
You may give them your love but not your thoughts.
For they have their own thoughts.
You may house their bodies but not their souls, For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow,
which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.
You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you.
For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.
You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth.
The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite, and He bends you with His might that His arrows may go swift and far.
Let your bending in the archer's hand be for gladness; For even as he loves the arrow that flies, so He loves also the bow that is stable.