Tina Smith: “this is a much happier day for me than it was 1 year ago. A year ago yesterday, my son, Garrett Lee Smith, took his…”

“this is a much happier day for me than it was 1 year ago. A year ago yesterday, my son, Garrett Lee Smith, took his life. Today it is his birthday, and today my heart is not filled with sadness but with joy because the Congress of the United States has acted with near unanimity, an overwhelming vote in the House of Representatives, Republicans and Democrats alike, and for a second time now the Senate, without objection, 100 strong, Republican and Democrat alike, has acted not as partisans but as Americans on an issue that afflicts families all over our land, the issue of mental health, of depression among our youth that often, too often, even at epidemic levels, can lead to suicide. This has been for me a very long and difficult year. I am grateful for the support of family and friends and, especially here now, my colleagues. I had many thoughts in mind when this occurred because I was raised to believe that no success can compensate for failure in one's home. And when my son took his life, I felt the ultimate failure. Yet I have come to learn from colleagues, some of them, like the leader, medical experts, others like Mike DeWine, who has suffered much in his family through the loss of a daughter; Pete Domenici, who has helped me to understand the lethal nature of mental illnesses, and so many more. I have been buoyed up and strengthened sufficient to carry on my public responsibility and try to find from the loss of my son some new meaning in his life.”