Entry 1: Before FTD Symptoms

"Mom, I want to apologize for what I said. Ummm . . . Kat and I broke up. I was lead down the wrong path; I'm really sorry." That was the message left on my mother-in-law Terry's answering machine while she was having a fun, carefree day at the clubhouse with her friends.

It is June 2005. Frank and Kat had always had a tumultous relationship, but in the good days we had alot of fun together. Frank is my husband Matt's brother and Kat is his twin of a wife.  They're both loud, funny and known to exaggerate the truth to make a story better, they both even have the same body type, linebacker. That was Frank's position on his high school and college football team.  Another thing about them, they love drama; or more like they crave drama. Once they were on their way to our house for dinner and they had a fight in the car. Frank got so angry that he picked up Kat's pie and threw it right out of the car window while he was driving.  Kat refused to come without it and made him turn the car around, so they just never showed up. It's kind of a funny story now, but Matt and I were peeved at the time. These and other erratic behaviors to come, I am convinced, are a result of multiple concussions received over many years. The effect of these brain traumas will become more and more pronounced through the years resulting in Frank's loss of his job, his family, his freedom, and ultimately his life.

Terry came home and expected a message from Matt or from the girls about card night. Not Frank. We hadn't heard from Frank or Kat in about three years. One day, around Thanksgiving 2002, out of the blue, for no reason we knew, Frank called Terry and said "I just want you to know that you are no longer my mother and I never want to speak to you again."

We had given up on having a good relationship with them. The fun times did not make up for the drama they brought to the family. We just decided to drop them from our social circle. No more invitations to the kid's birthdays or Christmas parties and things like that. There was no fight, but we didn't call them and they didn't call us again. It was better that way. We did not know what to make of this dramatic pronouncement though. We thought it had something to do with Kat and her puppetmaster mother. As incredulous and shocked and disappointed as we all were, we decided to stay out of it and not call or get involved. After Terry's anger wore off, she said she was actually happy. Frank was a holy terror from a very young age. Of all four boys, he always demanded and required the most attention. Terry said she always felt a little bit guilty that the other boys never got the same attention that Frank got. There was always trouble, but he had those smiling Irish eyes and charming dimples and she just couldn't stay mad at him. If I were making this movie I would pick one of the Baldwin brothers to play him. Not Alec though. Probably the one that was in "Dumb and Dumber".

Frank called again, when Terry was home this time and they spoke. He tried to explain what had happened, and she tried to understand, but deep down, Terry wished he had never come back. We knew he was only coming back because he had no where else to go. But I feel that family is always there for you, no matter what.  I just didn't know how far we would have to go to defend Frank at the time and how involved my family would need to become.