A few months ago, amid major stress (heavy job and money issues, getting married,getting pregnant, and days getting darker and shorter)I had my annual big fight with the ‘black dog.’ BUT – for the first time in my life using my arsenal of anti-depression weapons was just about automatic, and I started doing them as soon as I felt the slide coming on. And it ended up not being nearly as bad as it has been every other winter since I was 4 years old. So, while I will deal with this my entire life, I think I’m going to close this one. I am as well armed to fight it off as I will ever be…and am starting to feel, for the first time in probably 20 years, that life is for living and not just struggling through.