Barbara Reid came to our class to tell a riveting story about a perfect marriage that ended in a tragic-ly ever after with a little boy, Sam, 12, stuck in the middle. Reid told us about Sam’s world and how it came to be. It started with a happy marriage of Reid’s son and daughter in law; highschool sweethearts. Almost out of a movie, right? However, when faced with PTSD, Reid’s daughter in law, Kelly, took a dark turn. For Sam, he was only 4 years old and didn’t know what would hit him in the next years to come. After being consumed by PTSD, Kelly lost touch and concept of responsibility and turned to illegal drug use to help her cope with her symptoms. As an effect, her marriage fell apart into a million pieces of shattered glass left for no one but her son to pick up. Sam jumped through and out of schools until in 5th grade, he finally completed one full year of school at the same place. When the decision was made that Sam’s father was to take custody, Kelly’s paranoia resulted in Sam being ripped away from the house in the middle of the night and to be surrounded by two unstable adults. Then again, Sam’s mother was taken away from Sam from something other than PTSD. Kelly was sent to a medical facility. And from all this back and forth, sometime in the middle, Reid’s son had gotten remarried to an unloving stepmother. As Sam calls his grandmother he asks her “My house is a sad house, right?” and “‘ I’m a sad boy aren’t I grandma?”And with his parent’s relationship’s pressure relying on the strength of his shoulder’s, Sam is trapped with no escape through the court. Without a passport, how could he leave to stay with the one person showering him with love…his grandmother.