Jacee asked for a Mental Health Day. She needed time off work because she was stressed, not to mention her employee contract allowed her three of those days a year, so she was entitled to it.

Where were those days when we were living in Houston, Dave was playing baseball in another part of the country and our children were young? No one offered me a day to regroup, not even when I found my outdoor wreath nailed 18” above the baseboard in the living room (i.e., where the ping pong table was located, of course). As it turned out, when Adam beat Jeff in a game, Jeff threw his paddle at his younger brother who retaliated by shoving Jeff through the drywall. The wreath was their brilliant plan to hide the butt cheeks’ hole in the wall.

Or how about the time teenager Jeff placed the riding mower in drive instead of reverse, pinning me against the wall in the shed…the same teenage Jeff who tried to take a shortcut home from mowing a neighbor’s yard and drove into a ditch full of water, dropping the keys in the muddy water when he jumped off the mower? I never got time off work when I was mentally unstable. I got time off work when the principal of Adam’s middle school called me to say that the history teacher was tired of Adam’s shenanigans. Would I trail Adam at school for a day to see if he behaved better? That was my mental health day.

According to Jessica Brodie, author of “5 Sneaky Habits that Cause Serious Mental Health Problems,” mental health issues range from diagnosed mental illness (many times caused from a chemical disorder, genetics or trauma) to short-term periods of mental imbalance. What intrigued me about Brodie’s article was that mental health problems can be caused by five behaviors: lack of sleep, poor nutrition, not exercising, substance abuse and lack of self-love.

Except for substance abuse, I was guilty of the other four but certainly not unsympathetic to single parents who resorted to “substances.” I mean, how was I to sleep when I realized Adam disconnected the security system so he could sneak out his window at night? I guess I needed to be more like Jesus whose disciples had to wake him when a storm arose. (I could not relate.)

As for nutrition, yes, I know that our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit and deserves proper nutrition (1 Corinthians 6:19-20), but was it my fault Little League concession stands sold only hotdogs and nachos instead of salads? Then there’s exercise—so over-rated. Who has time for a spin class? Wasn’t it enough that daily I played catch with my sons and retrieved balls that somehow missed my glove? Proverbs 31:17 addresses the strength of a godly woman: “She sets about her work vigorously; her arms are strong for her tasks.” My arms were strong; it was the rest of my body that suffered.

Matthew 22:39 deals with self-love. Matthew never met my kids. How does one love herself when she is told by other parents that on several occasions her older two sons put a football helmet on their younger brother and had him run through the woods, target practice for their BB guns? No doubt, I was the topic of conversation for many of my son’s friend’s parents.

As I reflect on the hundreds (thousands) of incidents with my children, I understand that had mental health days been offered to parents who deserved them, I never would have worked a day in my life. Still, the wildest thing about all of this is that I now consider my children as some of my greatest blessings. Crazy how that works, isn’t it?