When addiction first crept into our household 11 years ago, I started keeping a journal. Retreating to clean white paper became my refuge. The blank pages stared back, non-judgmental and welcoming. On their unvarnished surface I poured out my anguish, fear, confusion and shame. It was the only place – until many years later – …
Among the virtues that some people have, there is at least one I missed. Patience I don’t even come close. Perhaps it’s genetic? My father was a pretty impatient guy. My mother’s patience came in tolerating his impatience. But my own lack of it was sorely tested when addiction crept into our home late in …
“I have measured out my life in coffee spoons.” So goes the famous line from T.S. Eliot’s poem “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock.” Some critics say it reflects how we spend much of our lives on ordinary tasks with little meaning. That’s not why I remember it. It’s a line I repeat often …