I got the courage to tell my mom I was sorry for the way I was acting. Things are looking better. I guess you guys deserve a story.

When I am manic, I get angry or euphoric. Big transitions set off my mood swings. During the transition from my last week at one job to the first week of my new job, I didn't take my meds.

Then my brother came home to spend the last week with us before his deployment. What I didn't realize until I apologized to my mom was that my mom had taken a week off from work to spend time with him, and she only got two meals and a couple hours at the shooting range with him. She was really upset. I didn't get to spend much time with my brother either.

So I was very angry this week. My mom told me I literally spent all week stomping around the house and slamming doors. I couldn't tell you why I was so upset. I was just mad about everything and I couldn't get myself to calm down. I was just so mad for no real reason. I was just mad because I was mad.

Something my Dad told me that I didn't realize is that whenever I am in those mood swings, I ignore my mom. That's what I did all week. I spent all week not talking to her or yelling a few words at her before slamming the door. How I feel about this is that she is a horrible listener. I can talk for 20 minutes straight without my Dad interrupting once, but I can't get out half a sentence before she interrupts me. She tells me again and again not to bother her about my feelings or drama because she gets enough of it at her work, so that is probably why I ignored her because my Dad worked his usual hours but my mom stayed home and the fact that I can't express myself around her made me feel horrible.

I still don't think there is anything anyone could say for justify her slapping me, and she never did apologize for that, but she told me she had the last straw and that because the neighbors complained she didn't want any liability if I hit some kid and kill them. So now they are going to decide what they are going to do about the car situation.

I feel a lot better apologizing to my mom, I thought it was a big step. Tomorrow I'm seeing my counselor to talk more about my feelings, but at least now my mom and I are on speaking terms.