When Jack was first diagnosed, I was horrified. Depressed. Had major anxiety attacks. Cried for hours.

Somewhere around Jack’s second year, I felt myself changing. I no longer longed for the green field across the fence–I was OK with the patchy grass holding one perfectly beautiful flower in my own yard.

So, I started writing my feelings…part here, part at my own blog. I advocated for my son. I tried to educate Moms who were being Too Pushy on the proper way to advocate (that begins with being well educated and not screaming…professionalism always counts!). I felt like I was doing something worthwhile.

Last week, I received an email forwarded to me, by a member of my family. Family member A received the email from Family member B. In the email, B tells A that “Heather will want to make sure everyone feels bad for her because her life is so hard.”

My heart sank.

Like a rock.

To my family, I have never once complained. To my best girlfriends, yes. To God, yes. To my husband, yes. But never to the family…because I feel very strongly that we were given Jack for a reason, and I am blessed by him–even when I can’t sleep for days on end.

So I am very conflicted: to confront, or not to confront.

I am very non-confrontational to begin with. So there’s that. But, in this case, my feelings are broken. This person, who claims to love me very much, just threw a huge wall up between us.

Not to mention that what was said is wrong and mean.

So, friends…what to do? Have you had this happen in your world? How do you deal? Ignore the elephant in the room? Avoid that person at all costs from now on? How do you deal when your feelings get hurt–and I know, if you’re like me, most days I cry if someone says anything remotely nice to me, so something mean REALLY hurts.

I’ll be here waiting!