Text; UN: Beekeeper

[pan_acea]

WHO: Julieta Madrigal
WHERE: Casita
WHEN: Late September
WHAT: Mirabel went home
WARNINGS: Sad mom.


For anyone who was friends with my daughter... Mirabel is... is not in Kaisou anymore.

[That's it, that's all there is. Her daughter was popular, Julieta is just making sure her friends know.

It's only in text so people cannot see how she's falling apart.]

Comments

[pan_acea]

[She stares at the text for a while before she responds.]

I... I am sure Bruno, Pepa, Luisa, and Antonio are all deeply hurting and could use some comfort or company. Tonito especially, he and Mira were always very close.

[She doesn't mention herself, she's in pain but her focus is on her family first.]

[findingways]

[ Moana frowns to herself. The fact that Julieta listed everyone except herself is not lost on her. ]

Okay. But what about you?

[pan_acea]

I will be fine once I can be sure she is safe.

[findingways]

[ Moana stares at the message for a few moments, thoughts racing through her mind. Because honestly, that just seems to mean that it might be a long while before Julieta can really be fine. Without any sure way of knowing that Mirabel made it home, who could blame her for worrying?

But knowing that doesn't mean she knows how to help. Moana knows there's no fixing something like this, but isn't there something she can do? ]

If you're sure. Just don't forget to take some time for yourself too. Sometimes you just have to let yourself be not fine.

[pan_acea]

It's... very difficult for a parent to allow themselves to be not okay when... there's so much that needs you to be alright.

[findingways]

I guess I can't say much about that since I don't know what it's like to be a parent.

But I do know that when something's wrong with my parents, I can usually tell. Even if they're trying to keep it from me and pretend things are okay, there's always something that gives them away. And for me, I usually feel better if they took care of themselves first, instead of trying to hide it for my sake.

[pan_acea]

Thank you for the advice. [It's not that Julieta intends to ignore it, she does take it in, but she's also dealing with 50 years of "it's fine, we're fine, we're the amazing Madrigals" to fight against. After so many years of not talking about the things that bother you... It's hard to just let that go.]

I just... do not wish to lay trouble at the children's feet. [They have enough on their plate.]

[findingways]

That's understandable. You're the parent, so you wanna take care of them.

But they probably notice more than you think they do. And if you can't talk about things with them, they might feel like they can't talk about those things either.

[pan_acea]

Ah, I know they notice more than I would like. They're too smart, notice too much, hard to keep anything from them, really.

I'm trying to...[Decades of "we're perfect, everything is fine" and then later "we don't talk about our scapegoat" is a lot to undo. Sometimes it feels like she can't unlearn it.]

[findingways]

[ She only really knows a little bit of the whole story, just what Mirabel had told her and what she could piece together herself. But Moana still has at least some idea of what it must be like. ]

It can be difficult talking about what's wrong, especially with people you want to take care of. But sometimes it's easier being able to deal with those kinds of things with other people. I know you wouldn't want them to worry, but I'm sure they already do even without you saying anything. At least together, you'll be able to lift each other up when you need it, rather than all of you feeling like you have to suffer through it alone.