Life is a journey. One that can make us laugh, make us cry, or hell, just make or
break us. I should know! This life of mine has definitely been unforgettable and
has made me bawl my eyes out, want to throw bricks at folks, and, if I can be
brutal y honest, made me wish I could just escape. But through it al , I’ve had my
two people in my life who have been the glue that has helped me keep it al
together, my maternal grandmother, Delia Simmonds and my paternal uncle
Samuel H. Hall, Jr. In truth, they were the only family I real y had until I had
my own. I’ve always heard that you shouldn’t envy people because you don’t know
what they’ve gone through to get to where they are in life. Ain’t that the truth? I
tend to post a lot of my life’s moments on social media, so people see me running
my businesses and doing things with my children and assume that I have not a
care in the world. Wel , you know what they say about assuming, right? If they
only know the things I’ve experienced to become the woman I am today, they’d
probably bolt in the other direction.
You see, I am the daughter of someone who lost herself to the devastating ef ects of
mental illness. However, her disease didn’t just affect her – it cheated me out of al
the special occurrences that define childhood and robbed my grandparents of a life
with their daughter, my mom, Vernice. I’ll never forget the day that I lost my
mom for the first time and began to understand that something was very wrong. I
was twelve years old, and it was a day that would change my world forever. Little
did I know this would be the start of total y unscripted, vast experiences that now
are my ‘Journey Untold.’
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JOURNEY UNTOLD: TWISTED LOVE –
MY MOTHER’S STRUGGLE WITH MENTAL ILLNESS
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Author: Yassin S. Hall | Co-Author: Loán C. Sewer