I always dreamed of living in another place. My dad never understood. Why would I ever want to leave Kentucky? His dad was an alcoholic. He was a sharecropper who rented his house from the farmer that he worked for. Because they didn’t own their home, there wasn’t much stability. When my dad turned eighteen, […]
I visited with my sisters in Kentucky yesterday. We decided to go to the town of our father’s birth and search the cemeteries for our great-grandparents tombstones. I was captivated as I drove through the lush green countryside along the river banks. Had my father driven these same roads? What would he think about his […]
Sunday, my priest was asked about giving advice to others. He said that we should never tell others what to do. For one thing, most of us never listen to advice. For another, as humans, we will never have all of the information that we need to advise others. In fact, we learn best […]
In my home growing up, there was no alcohol. Between my grandfather’s alcoholism and my southern Baptist roots, it was simply forbidden. Those rules didn’t stop some members of my family from drinking to excess. That drinking caused a lot of problems. It seemed that our family’s prohibition wasn’t achieving what it had set […]
In the last three weeks, I’ve driven over three thousand miles. I am tired just writing that sentence. Beyond the fatigue, my mind wonders… These experiences felt connected, somehow. What was God trying to teach me? And, what did it all mean? My husband and I made the long trip to Washington DC, where a […]
One of the most frightening things that I’ve ever had to do is hold a sedated horse for my husband. I don’t do it often. And, when I do, it is because I am his very last resort to be a vet assistant. Just imagine holding 800-1200 pounds of wobbling beast. My husband becomes so […]
Eleven years before I was born, Henry Heaton died. He was my paternal grandfather and he was an alcoholic. I don’t know much about him. What I do know explains a lot about the fear and shame that I inherited surrounding the disease of addiction. There was one story that my dad told many times. […]
I remember my first twelve-step meeting so well. It was my intention to go into the Church’s little basement room and take thorough notes on how to fix my addicted loved ones. Then, I’d go home and take care of business–as usual. Hopefully, I thought, it won’t take too long. So, you can imagine my […]
Addiction is a difficult disease to battle–that is for sure. But, many times we are served with the news of those difficulties in such a way that it can be overwhelming. You will be told up-front that for an addict or alcoholic, there are only three possible paths. There is recovery, institutions (jail/prison or mental) […]