The poem is biographical, deeply personal, dark, and self-deprecating (but not at all in a humorous way). I remember crying when I read the poem for the first time; it broke my heart and made me so sad to read how my depressed and addicted son actually felt about himself.
Continue Reading As I write this blog post, my 24-year-old son—a former heroin user who is in recovery—has been clean …
Continue Reading The experienced and educated me views relapse as part of a learning process that will help lead the addict to recovery. For that reason, I no longer think relapse should be considered a failure. Instead of “Relapse is part of recovery,” I prefer the saying “Progress, not perfection.”
Continue Reading Now that my son has been clean for more than a year-and-a-half, I am experiencing a tremendous amount of joy watching him mature into the wonderful young man I always knew he could be. Chronologically, he’s now 24; emotionally, he’s getting very close to that same number. He has a job, a checking account, lives with his girlfriend (they adore each other), and is pretty much self-sufficient. He’s even talking about going back to school. If he does, I’m convinced that it will be for real this time.
Continue Reading From the very beginning, I was blown away by what Jeanne, Don, and their children, Courtney and Matt, were doing. To take such an unthinkable tragedy and turn it into something positive that helps other people is so selfless. I also felt strongly connected to these people because my own son—who, as I write this, is 20 months clean and sober—is around the same age that Tyler was when he passed.
Continue Reading Addiction is a family disease. If anybody believes differently, they are wrong. Until you have gone through a loved one’s addiction and experienced the havoc it can wreak on your own life, you will not understand the ups and downs that family members go through. You may be sympathetic and supportive of someone affected by addiction in their family, but only people who have “been there” can feel true empathy.
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