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 – …
It is January and I am again ensconced in South Florida. This is the annual visit – almost a retreat – to live in my son’s neighborhood and soak up, not so much the sun, but his nearness. With his invitation my husband and I attend one of his weekly meetings. It is an otherwise …
We may never know the full story. A child kills his parents. That’s horrific enough. But what makes the deaths of Rob and Michele Reiner even worse – if that’s possible – is how the revelation further fuels shame surrounding addiction. Even among rich and famous families, shame lives. The news hurls me back, calling …