That Certain Saturday

That Certain Saturday tells the true story of Madelyn S Leigh's struggle with her mother's illness from Madelyn's age of nine until she was sixty. Her father always being their rock. Beginning in 1960 with a pill which was proclaimed by doctors to be a miracle, Madelyn had to watch that medication prolong the pain and stigma of her loving and kind mother's problem rather than fix things. Her mother seemed to have the perfect life by being a contented housewife and very involved with her women's church group in the years prior to 1960. Her daughter Madelyn's childhood had been celebrated with the beauty of daily horseback rides which her mother enjoyed watching. The events of the morning that her mom's nerves came unraveled were something that no child should have to endure. Madelyn did endure it, but her life would never be the same. Psychiatric ward visits and hearing her mother be "labeled" made for a quick jump from childhood to adulthood at age nine.
Two years later equaled two more nervous breakdowns and three out-of-state moves due to her dad being transferred because of his job. Her mother had the determination to keep trying to start over by driving again and getting involved with life.
A first marriage for Madelyn and a wonderful baby boy, three years later, still did not help to normalize her situation. Her father had been the only stabilizing factor for her since young childhood. His diagnosis of cancer in the late 1980s was a huge awakening
Life was a complete confusion for Madelyn while she was always wishing she was simply riding a horse, her favorite pastime. Modern medicines were prescribed for her mom after her last hospital stay and made a great difference. In the 1990s, Madelyn inherited all of the responsibilities of her mom. With her mom's mental condition greatly improving, her mom's physical condition began to deteriorate rapidly. The number of doctors for her care grew to nine.
Exhaustion and insomnia took over Madelyn's life, but she kept going due to her love for her mother and the kindness of her mom under terrible circumstances. The coming years contained many changes, but she and her mom always remain together. The wait for Jesus had many challenges. It was a roller-coaster life, growing up in a dysfunctional family which never included alcohol, drug abuse, or physical or mental abuse. It was simply one person's personal struggle with a chronic illness which affected the whole family. The love of family and the love of animals defeated everything that was bad.