The Billabong jacket, it fit them all. The tall curvy girl, the tall slim one, the more amply endowed one, as well as the tiniest one of them all. Ala the Sisterhood pants, they took turns wearing it. It was so soft and comfy, everyone wanted to wear it forever, but it was always passed around and saw each of the girls through their journey through adolescence into adulthood. It ended up eventually being retired and put into storage. I think no one entirely wanted to claim it as their own, but there had been an original owner, and I think none of them felt quite right about wearing it anymore. Although it was comfortable and comforting, somehow the jacket and all it symbolized had become childish in a way. There were fond memories and not so fond memories, both of which seemed to far in the past. They had moved on and become young adults and the jacket still occupied a place in time. It seemed appropriate to put it in storage and relegate it to the place of scrapbooks & ticket stubs. It had bee there through the time when their futures were bright, if some what uncertain, but now they were in fact in that bright future and had no need for the Billabong jacket anymore.

That is, until something changed. The tiniest of them all needed the comfort of that jacket again, her bright future had suddenly become uncertain again. She didn’t have to ask for it, it was just pulled from the back of the closet and put into duty again. The hope was that the jacket that had sheltered & comforted them all would once again do the same for her and help her through the uncertainty. Although, it may once again be comforting to her, the jacket will most likely not be seeing her through rough times to better times. It will most likely be seeing her from rough time to rough time as it has found itself in the psychiatric hospital with her while she is facing a very serious diagnoses for mental illness.

If that jacket has feelings, then it must be feeling as hopeless as I am about that tiniest girl’s future. Although, we are still not sure what is going on with her, it is very clear that she is facing a lifelong illness and that her life will be made much more difficult by it. It’s such a shame to see such a vibrant young girl facing the shining possibilities of her life, only to pulled away from all that possibility. Yanked away like she was a rag-doll made to live locked away in her own mind. I’m afraid for her and the future of that Billabong jacket, I fear that their innocence and promise will be lost forever and that makes me sad.