Spend any time in a recovery support group and one of the first things you’ll hear is that addiction is a family disease. The addict is sick, certainly, but the “disease of addiction” affects the entire family. Everybody is sick. No one is immune. When you’re the non-addict in the family, especially if your loved […]
In a recent Republican debate, when moderator Brian Williams pointed out that Governor Rick Perry’s state of Texas has executed “more death row inmates than (under) any other governor in modern times,” the crowd of Tea Party types cheered. Whether you like Perry or not (I don’t) or agree with the death penalty or not […]
I’m not a gambler. I don’t buy lottery tickets, I’ve never played blackjack, and I don’t tinker with risky investments. There’s just no great thrill in it for me, no adrenaline rush or sweaty palms or child-like excitement. It’s not really that I have some great fear of the loss, although I’m sure that’s a […]
When you live with someone in recovery, the battle with addiction becomes a common and consistent thread in your thoughts, your conversations, and your decision-making. It becomes the filter through which everything else must flow, similar to the way that dealing with any life-threatening disease might begin to color even the most inane interaction. Decisions, big […]
There was a time in my life when I was certain of everything. Life, love, god, and country… I had it all figured out. I had a plan, an agenda. I didn’t just have beliefs or opinions, mind you. Any smart-mouthed teenager could have those. I had serious convictions. I knew things. I’m not sure […]
Family members often remark that my niece Cece and I seem to share a personality, which is not a statement I think is ever meant as a compliment to either of us, although being who we are, we certainly take it as one. Thank you, we simply say. While I’ve done my best over the […]
Every day we log on to Facebook and see pictures of our friends and family… of their kids, their pets, their random observations, and more times than not, the turkey sandwich they’re getting ready to have for lunch. The images are inescapable and, often times, forgotten in the time it takes us to scroll down […]
Sometimes I ramble. 