Even as a child, I never liked New Year’s Eve. It always seemed forced to me – forced to feel jovial, forced to reflect, forced to look ahead and make promises I‘d never keep. But seven years ago was the worst. There is a saying in AA and Al-Anon: You can look back. Just don’t …
Families face it every year. When they love someone in active addiction, it’s the dilemma that begins haunting them as soon as the first tinsel appears in shop windows. How do I answer my son’s plea when he says, Mom, can I come home for Christmas? Or, what do I say to my daughter when she …
If you love someone with an addiction, anniversaries can be tough – especially anniversaries that mark the illness. The first warning sign. First arrest. Rehabs. Relapses. The first 30 days clean. Each December I celebrate my own anniversary. December 6, 2010 marks my first Al-Anon meeting. I can still see every face in that tiny, …
Before it slipped away to another town, my husband and I caught “Beautiful Boy” at our local movie theater. It was a weekday. Only two other couples occupied seats. Based on David Sheff’s wrenching memoir about his son’s drug use, the film is equally wrenching to watch. Anyone who has read the book knows the …
When a child falls prey to addiction, when does a parent stop asking, what did I do wrong? What did I do, or not do, to cause this? When does self-incrimination end and absolution begin? Maybe it takes years. Or maybe, never. Recently, Jacob was invited to address a large AA meeting in south Florida. …
Recently my son and I were invited to help inaugurate a Family Weekend hosted by the Schnellenberger Foundation in Delray Beach, Florida. Some might recognize this name. In the 1970s Howard Schnellenberger was coach of the Baltimore Colts. His son, Tim, leads the family’s effort to support recovery and to educate families afflicted by the …
We all know addiction can affect those nearest the person with the disease. Parents and spouses suffer mightily. But what about others in the family? Or even close friends? One of the questions I face frequently after a book talk is, how did your daughter react? When addiction entered our household, nothing was the same. …
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 …
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 …
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 …