Since Ian, the now 20 year old brother I raised from age 9 due to my parent's inability to do so themselves, is living with me again (summer break from college in FL turned into permanent move back to Cbus and transfer to OSU) I have been too distracted to keep up with this. Not good! I am also teaching two criminology classes and working full time. No excuses, but what would it take to be able to just write and survive? Maybe when I'm 50 lol, right now I need the full time job to survive. Teaching makes me appreciate how much I should not be doing my current job: not utilizing the skills I worked so hard to build while I was earning my PhD, not pursuing my passion, etc.. Oh well. Hoping to be where I want to be a year from now at the very latest.
So this update is short:
My dad, who had been found incompetent and not restorable to face his criminal charges from 2010 when he was off his meds and without a clue as to what reality was at the the time, is now competent according to the courts! He has been on meds for so long in the forensic hospital that he is doing better than I have seen him in a DECADE! Now is he without paranoid thoughts and delusions? No. But for the last few months we have been able to have quasi "normal" conversations, way less rambling, he asks me about my life more, etc.. It's hopeful. Given the competency issue my father is currently back in Lee County Jail awaiting his pretrial hearing on October 2nd. At that time I will know more about whether he is eligible for mental health court (his best chance because then he has to comply with psych meds and treatment for a specified amount of time in order for the charges to be dismissed), if he has the option to be released due to time served in the hospital (without resources, a one way ticket back to psychosis and the street, this time as a felon which would undoubtedly be even more problematic), if he refuses to plead guilty to a felony (as he promised me, even though he didn't really understand my position as to why doing so is not a good idea) and the charges are pursued (paving the way for an insanity defense that his attorney is pretty confident we would win). I know not many defendants are successful with an insanity defense but hey, my mom did it with way less justification. My father's attorney has reiterated the ridiculousness of the charges against my father given the severity of his illness, and the state attorney seemed to agree with me that my dad does not belong in prison or thrown back into the streets without much needed structure and support. So we'll see I guess.
