When someone is suffering
For a long time I thought I had the “right” response whenever I learned that someone who loves a person with addiction was suffering. Apparently, I’ve been doing it all wrong. Until recently, if someone told me about a friend or relative whose child was actively drinking or using, I would say, “Sure. Have them …
Book talk for the Interfaith Families Project Adult Group
Georgetown East Elementary School
A Sunday miracle – times hundreds
You need to see it to believe it. In the Washington DC area – every Sunday evening – there’s an open AA meeting that’s been going on for decades. That’s not unusual. What is is the group’s size. On a recent Sunday my son invited me to attend with him. Located this night in a …
Summer’s end
On a late August morning just before sunrise only a few people dot the beach. The sand belongs to the seabirds, a fisherman and yesterday’s footprints. Except for the pounding of waves, there’s no sound. In the still, quiet snapshot of that half-light before dawn, I surrender to the sweet sadness of summer’s end. I …
Vacation
The word connotes pleasure, relaxation, summertime ease. It’s time away with family, friends, a spouse, a pet. In my family, vacation means Rehoboth. The Delaware-beach resort, known for its family-friendly atmosphere, deep blue beach umbrellas, boardwalk fries and bumper cars, offers us all that a beach vacation can. But for years the word “vacation” spurred …
Trust
A question I often am asked is, when did you start trusting your son, again? As often as this comes up, it always stops me cold. The corollary is rarely asked: how long did it take to lose that trust? Al-Anon literature says that “trust” is a choice. Suffering from the wreckage of addiction in …
Even in Prague
Prague, Capital of the Czech Republic. Certainly not a city you would associate with addiction, or any other disease. But there we were in early July, attending an AA meeting with our son. The city was a brief stopover at the end of a river cruise celebrating a family anniversary. Without fanfare, Jacob announced he’d …