Curveballs (Chapters 1 to 199)

5.74 Uncaught - Perspective

"Actually I am on nobody's side. I am a mother and so I am able to sort of see it through your eyes, Mrs. Anderson. I can relate to it. I know there's pain, denial, fear, pride and many more mixed feelings that make it hard to take this lightly. I'm not suggesting I know everything about it, though, because after all I've only been a mother for five years. But it's enough to know that the conflicts are so different in each family that you should never judge them..."

"I'm glad you see that", Mom complimented her and smiled briefly. But then Jane stood up and pulled one side of her pants down a bit. To my surprise I saw she was wearing a pull-up diaper. Mom put her hand in front of her opened mouth.

"...but I also said Lyza and I had something in common. I am also suffering from urinary incontinence and thus know the stress and struggle that comes along with it. I don't know if wearing a diaper is the best way to deal with it. All I can tell you: it's the only safe way to enable living a normal life. If you need to be afraid of leaking into your pants and embarrassing yourself all the time, that's not a life worth living"

"B-but you're still so young...I can't believe there's no way to get rid of this annoyance...", Mom complained, but Jane cut her off.

"I don't think of it as an annoyance. No, not at all. When I was a child I always wanted to become a mother. I wanted it no matter the cost. And then years later I finally gave birth to my son John. It also made me incontinent. But I don't regret a thing! Not for one second was I ever thinking that it would've been better to stay childless so I would still be healthy. No! I think it was a small price to pay compared to becoming a mother. That thought also helps me to handle things. And I think your situation is not too different if put into the right perspective..."

"How is that?", Mom asked excitedly.

"As far as I know you have only one daughter, Mrs. Anderson, and she's incontinent. There's no such thing as reverting medical conditions. That's wishful thinking. If they can heal it: fine, but that's only the future. But first and foremost she's suffering from it here and now and there's no way denying it. That way you'll only alienate her. Think about living your life childless and then living it with a lovely teen daughter who needs to wear diapers. That's my take on it", Jane shrugged and pulled her pants back up.

"You're right with that. My issue is not with the medical condition, but with the way Lyza dealt with it. She didn't trust me and just decided that diapers were the only solution without consulting someone"

"I get that and I know it's hard to be left out by your very own daughter. But what I can say is that I think you have a very brave daughter and you should be proud of how she handled herself there. If I were her and needed to face my friends at school with bladder issues I would've cuffed myself to the freakin' bedpost to prevent having to go there again, you know? I would've just taken the easy route", Jane explained and Mom thought about it for a moment. Meanwhile Jane smirked at me encouragingly and I smiled back. She was really a gem!