This made me smile. Thank you so much. I just wish he was here to see the new aviary. I never had a chance to say goodbye.

True, but sometimes goodbyes are the hardest part of a relationship. Maybe he was trying to spare your feelings.

This is probably the cumulative effect of a whole lot of things. You're thinking about Bio and he's part of it, but all the stress you've been through on other issues is probably lurking below the surface and causing part of it.

I would bet that the last 12 months have been the most stressful year of your life so far. The school problem was HUGE since it not only dictated how you'd spend most of your time for the next four years, it would also have an influence on the rest of your life. It wasn't easy getting out of the school you hated and it took a long time to do it. You haven't said much about school since then but it's a safe bet that there are some things you don't like about the new school either, since there are very few kids who love being shut up in class all day. School will be starting again soon, right about the time the aviary is finished, and your summer break was very short because you had to go to summer school. You'd probably feel better right now if you'd had a longer break.

Unfortunately there were several bird-related disasters during the year too and Bio isn't the only one you had to grieve for. On the positive side Bio gave you three lovely babies which was wonderful but brought its own set of stresses. On top of all that you're a teenager which is a rough time of life for everybody. So it's not surprising if it all gets you down sometimes. If it gets too bad, talk to someone in your real life about it. If you're still seeing that therapist that's a good place to start.

Thank you so much. I have to admit, this year was very stressful. It started from January 12 and is continuing today. I went outside to bury one of Bio's tail feather because I feel like he is no longer alive and saw that Moon's grave was destroyed. I didn't stay there to long because I saw something move in the bushes and thought it was a raccoon. I don't go to that therapist anymore. I go to FIU Anxiety and Phobia.

I am going through some problems right now. My mom is upset at me because she doesn't want me to go to that school. I don't go to public school anymore because it was too big for me. I went to ANOTHER school that shared my religion as me. Once they got to know me they stabbed me on the back. (Not for real). They were just trying to make a sweet beginning and the hours were even longer there. I go to an international private school. My mom wants me to go to a school with people that has the same religion as me but I don't want that. I hate people that have the same religion as me. She offered to put me in another school that isn't so strict on religion but I denied it. Wanna know why? Because my cousins is going there.

I have been bullied since elementary school because of them. I would always hide from people but when I went to my new school, everyone was so nice. No one hurt my feelings, ever. I felt like family. My whole life has been bad. My relatives compare me with my stupid cousins. I was always treated differently then them.

There is more things going on but I would rather not get into them.

I have a feeling that school is the biggest reason that you're feeling unhappy, but you're thinking about Bio instead because this is safer train of thought in many ways. It was terrible to lose him but at least that loss is over and done with and you don't have to worry about the future because of him.

Obviously the school problem needs to be settled quickly because it's almost time for school to start. If you can, recruit your father and any other friendly family members, and your current therapist too, to try to help your mother see that you'll do better in a school where you feel comfortable. A person who is stressed out and anxious all the time doesn't have a lot of energy to focus on any kind of work because the anxiety is taking so much out of them. The school she wants you to go to might be a better school in terms of academic standards. But that won't do you any good unless you actually succeed there, and your recent experience proved that you don't do well in an environment like that.

Forcing kids to go to religious school against their will isn't an effective way to make them more religious, and I think it tends to have the opposite effect on teenagers. Brainwashing works better on young children who believe what the adults tell them lol. By this time you are either inclined to be religious or you aren't. If you are, then you'll seek out anything else you want to know about it without having it crammed down your throat. If you aren't, then no amount of throat-cramming can change that.

Thanks. I am going to that school. My mom just said she was upset that I was going. I have to tell you, the work they had in my old school was VERY hard. It required a lot of thought and understanding and I'm not good at that. It used to depressed me. When it was time to get with your partners, I spent my time going somewhere alone and sobbing.

Good, I'm glad you're going to the school where you're comfortable. And I'm sorry to hear that there's still some drama going on about the school situation - I thought it had been fixed months ago. You can tell your mother that you understand that she wanted you to go to the other school because she thought it would be better for you, but you'll actually learn more in an environment where you're not being picked on and where the work is at a level that's appropriate for where you are right now.

It's possible that she wants you to go to a school based on your religion because she wants you to have strong ties to your cultural group. But that will only work if she can find some people of better character in the group for you to associate with. People form ties with a group that makes them feel like they belong there, not a group that abuses them.

Thinking and understanding are good skills to have, and I hope you'll work at developing this ability. But acquiring these skills is a slow process, and if you're thrown into a situation where you're in over your head and can't keep up, you'll just get farther behind. I didn't learn to think and analyze until I was in college, because all they really taught at my high school was swallowing a bunch of data and regurgitating it for tests.

I think there's a limit to how much high school students can do it anyway, because critical thinking requires a lot of information and experience that they simply don't have yet. In this world everything fits together in one way or another but you have to have the information before you can start seeing the patterns. It's also helpful to have an older person who can explain things to you, to set an example of how their thought process leads them from Point A to Point B.

Agreed 110%. I speak from experience. Remember how I said I was bullied in middle school? Well, it took a toll on me physically. I was 5'3 and weighed 83 pounds. Now I'm 5'4 and 96 pounds. I can loose weight very quickly and it is so hard to gain it back. My whole family is skinny and my metabolism is very quick. I was so stressed, my immune system was lowered and I contracted pneumonia for 2 weeks and almost died. I lost far too much weight and almost starved to death. I overcame it though. Remember how I said everybody hated me? I really mean everyone, teachers and all. Only one teacher liked me. A P.E. teacher. I loved Mrs. Cerny. She was my only help for my time there. She was a sweetheart who had compassion. Everyone else ripped on the anxious Asperger kid. Almost heartlessly. The staff would literally pry my hands off what I was grabbing to prevent going into the school. They were so dumb they thought I was doing it on purpose.

Anyway, you all already know my middle school past. And like I said earlier, a bad environment is never going to be helpful. It will hurt you more than help you. High school is completely different. They are very supportive and accommodated to my needs. I still say to keep searching for what you need. A school should be there to help kids learn, no matter what, not cut down kids. A good one will help with whatever the student needs.

It's bad enough when the kids are mean, but at least they have the excuse that they're young and ignorant, and might grow up to be better people in the future. When the teachers join in they don't have that excuse, they're just substandard human beings.

In many schools there is no time or will to help the kids to develop in their own best way. You might get lucky and get the one teacher or member of staff who understands you and pushes you in the right direction, but these are very dedicated individuals not very easy to bump into.
I am VERY HAPPY that you don't go to the same school as your cousins, I think they are silly and will grow up to be silly adults with small mindsets.
Just remember that school will end one day, it's not a life sentence
In the meantime you have the time to figure out who you are, that's a hard job in itself!