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 …
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 …
At a recent book talk a woman raised her hand and asked, “Do you ever get over the fear?” Her adult son, two and half years clean, was living several states away. They spoke often by phone and she had the sense he was doing well. But she couldn’t stop worrying. “I worry that he …
It happens frequently. I’m on the treadmill at the gym, and a woman appears at my side. She introduces herself and tells me she just finished “Secret No More.” Tears fill her eyes. She thanks me, and says I am so brave. Later, I wonder, why “brave?” I walk through the Naval Academy, a common …