The article reflects on a mother's painful last lunch with her son, Rob, before he took his own life. Each moment shared reveals the emotional detachment and struggles both faced, as Rob battled personal demons, including unreliable jobs and threats from loan sharks. The mother, amidst her own challenges, tries to connect while using her limited understanding from a coping technique called 'detaching with love.' The excerpt poignantly illustrates how mental health issues can affect relationships and the difficulties in communicating within a family dealing with such pain.
By the time Rob got into my car, he had changed his mind, so we headed to the Del Amo Mall... I was going through some of my own difficulties.
Rob had long been an unreliable narrator, and his latest story was a doozy about owing back rent... he wasn't sleeping much, which had become fairly typical for him.
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