I remember the early days of my son’s addiction. I felt paralyzed. I sat with this new information alone. Would I be able to tell anyone? What would they think of him? What would they think of me? I looked around with new eyes. I saw families–they all seemed so normal compared to how I […]
We have always had horses. My husband grew up with them. I am afraid…still. A few years ago, I decided to try again to overcome some of my fears so I took some lessons from on older cowboy that we knew. I understood that it would be important to start on the […]
In this family disease, we often have to watch as our loved ones harm themselves. It is the most difficult part. Imagine that you had a two year old that you could not stop from wandering into traffic to retrieve a ball on the other side. Loving someone who is in active addiction to […]
I am not alone when I mention that I love the show “This is Us.” There are too many good qualities to list. But, my favorite thing is that they scoot around in time, giving us insight into the depth of each character. It satisfies a curiosity that I have always held about how our […]
My children were young in the nineties. The wisdom of the day on parenting, via the latest headline, newspaper or magazine article or television talk show suggested that we keep our kids busy. The thought being: “idle hands are the devil’s workshop.” There were other nuggets of wisdom: put them in sports, keep them active […]
In my first twelve-step meeting, everyone kept telling me that addiction is a family disease. I had no idea what they meant. Eight years later, as I sat in another meeting that I had volunteered to chair, several people arrived that I did not know from our usual group. That either means that they are a […]
This is one of my heroes. His name is Greg Boyle, SJ. He is a priest from Los Angles, CA who started and now runs the largest gang rehabilitation and re-entry program in the world. I am such a fan that I’ve toured his ‘Homeboy Industries’ and eaten at ‘Homegirl Cafe in Los Angeles. And, […]
The last couple of posts were about steps one and two. Step one reminds me that I am powerless over many things but most especially over the addictions of others. I must firmly accept that powerlessness before I can consider reaching for help outside of myself. Step two stresses the need for me to grow […]
I used to facilitate an expressive writing class at our county jail. One of our fun activities involved using something called a story starter. A story starter is a way to give the writer a place to begin. I would give each young lady a slip of paper with a sentence written on it and […]
This morning as I sat in mass, I noticed four sets of parents that I recognized because their kids had gone to school with our kids. I knew one couple because their son and our oldest son had gone to kindergarten together. It gave me a warm feeling seeing those parents sitting in front […]