1. . ..But back at my grandma's place on London Avenue where I was born, my aunt used to take care of my older sister and me.  Meanwhile, my mom was busy with a condition of depression that started with my birth, or so she told me a few years ago.  In spite of her sickness, we managed to have a wonderful life in Tunis, the capital of Tunisia.  In this beautiful city, quite cosmopolitan, with Arabs, Jews, Christians; there were Italians too. The Arab market was very colorful and non-Arabs worked there too. The great weather was our lucky ingredient, and we were surrounded by the Mediterranean Sea in the North and the East. We were a large family and very often together.  We all appreciated our everyday life, our spiritual and religious practices, and our holidays. During the summertime, my parents rented a house close to a beach, and sometimes we would go to the mountains. We spent the summer in a privileged way of life. The distances from Tunis to where my dad worked was not too long, he could join us in the evenings.  We were there the whole summer; a place in paradise.

2.....The doctor took me under his care at the hospital where I felt bad for the first two weeks. There, I actually felt worse than at home. I had a lot of check ups, mostly in my blood.  They definitely missed my soul.  I was switched to another medicine.  This time I took Imipramine, a very old antidepressant with many healing powers.  At the beginning, it didn't help.  Consequently, my doctor decided to give me also three pills a day of Lithium, and the reason was because I told him my mom was taking this medicine; that is what he told me; he was not a prophet, barely a doctor. The next day I got up from my bed, started walking around, and could not believe my feelings were not tricking me: I felt normal!  Just a few grams of Lithium, a little bit from a "salt", and I was going home to my kids, my husband and my occupations.
    I was feeling myself again; such a miracle I could have never expected!  I guess I had to believe in medicine again and maybe not in psychotherapy.  All I said before about medication not helping was wrong.  Now I can say a cure has been found for me--hurray!
    Unfortunately, during the course of the next thirteen years, with or without medication, I always fell into bouts of depression, hypomania or mania; a trio to chose from.

3......The next day I was in my car, moving on my seat. I was driven by the music.  I started feeling so good about life like never, never before; it was the same feeling I felt the day before. What was this good feeling I felt through all my senses?  My eyes never saw such a sunrise or sunset. Their colors and shapes were out of this world.  I felt beautiful: I took good care of myself and of my makeup.  These were things I had never done before. When I looked in the mirror, the reflection of my face was one of a pretty lady with beautiful green eyes. And again, I didn't want to share my happiness with anyone. Such a feeling was for me so unique, so great and so unusual; I became afraid someone would steal it from me.