Shopping with a Schizophrenic

I'm Jesus Christ!. My son having stopped in the middle of mowing the yard presented himself at the front door of my house with this announcement. My heart dropped into my stomach as I stared into the eyes of a person who was not the man that I knew. Unblelievably after having gone almost twenty years without a psychotic break and with no warning at all he was no longer connected with reality as he once knew it.. I hoped against hope that I would be able to somehow reason him out of this although history had shown that it was impossible without medical intervention. Who am I then? I queried.. He studied me for a moment as I attempted to guiede him into the house. Mom? he asked uncertainity in his voice.. Yes I replied. So if I'm mom how can you possibly be Jesus Christ? My name isn't Mary after all.. And as expected this was not to deter him from the world in which he now existed.It is estimated by NAMI (National Alliance of the Mentally Ill) that one in five people suffer from a mental illness. With those statistics how do so many people just survive and function from day to day? How does this affect the family unit?. I have been a registered nurse for the past 46 years and mother of a son who suffers from Schizophrenia. And while this journey called life has had its ups and downs there has always been room for laughter and seeing the lighter side of things.. You are invited to see how we have traveled this path together.