A MOTHER'S BLEEDIN' HEART

The drama A Mother's Bleedin' Heart tells the story of a mother whose heart is bleeding after the loss of her husband and because of the behavior of her younger son, who is having a hard time dealing with his father's death. The son keeps getting into trouble, and the mother has trouble trying to keep her family together-so much so that she is not taking care of herself.

Mary is the wife of the late Leroy Tubbs, who died after a long sickness, and the mother of four young-adult children: Tyrese, Amanda, Shi-Ann, and Marcus. It's been almost two years since Leroy died. Mary's best friend, Sue, has stuck by her side throughout the ordeal of Leroy's illness and after, while Mary struggles to do everything she can to take care of her home just as she and Leroy did when he was alive.

Mary's youngest child, 21-year-old Marcus, dropped out of college after one semester because he's still having a hard time dealing with his father's death. Marcus started hanging out with disreputable friends and mistreating his mother and ended up going to jail. Marcus's family is trying to reach out to him to see what's going on with him.

Finally, Marcus confesses to Tyrese, Amanda, and Shi-Ann about his difficulty in dealing with the loss of their father. (This preoccupation with Marcus and with their father's passing causes all the children to ignore the physical pain of their surviving parent-until it's almost too late.)

Families often deal with this issue in real life, and the person or persons who are causing the problem often don't realize how much pain they're putting their loved ones through.