Sesimbra, Portugal, is a place with history. She’s known grief and loss. Her cracked cobblestones are soaked with centuries of tears. History is seeped into her narrow, steep streets, but she doesn’t mourn for those lost. She knows that death is part of life. Nothing surprises her. Nothing defeats her. She simply bears witness and remains…
Read MoreI hate addiction. It’s sneaky and greedy. It never takes just one. It tears families and communities apart and spreads its poison through generations. What many people don’t realize, though, is that recovery is an antidote. It also does not live in isolation. Like addiction, recovery is powerful enough to transform people, families, and communities. Recovery can change lives now and for future generations.
Recovery is so much more than not using drugs or alcohol. It’s more than simply stopping certain problem behaviours. Recovery is continual, personal healing…
Read MoreTristan loved the alchemy of cooking: broiling chicken bones until lightly charred and simmering them for hours until transformed into a rich aromatic stock that he’d use in sauces or soup or a glaze. But he was equally thrilled by the quick bliss of an Oreo McFlurry. Tristan loved everything about food. …
Read MoreMy daughter, Jenn, recently celebrated two years of sobriety. She worked damned hard for it (still does, every day, one day at a time) and the gifts of recovery are flowing into her life. It’s what I expected, if she walked that road. What I didn’t expect were the mountain of gifts that Jenn’s recovery would bring to my life…
Read MorePeople say a mother’s love is blind, but that’s not true. A mother’s love is like x-ray vision. It sees her child’s soul, the ultimate source of truth. The only truth worth seeing. The rest of the human condition is camouflage.
I’m not blind. I see Tristan’s deceptions and hear his lies. I know his desperation, and where that leads him. Sometimes more clearly than he does. But that’s not the truth of who my son is. That’s the camouflage of addiction...
Read MoreBe free, sweet boy
From the fight
From the struggle
From the shadow's calling
You did all you could
In the rooms
In recovery
For laffers and love
For the new guy
For you
But still not enough
Never enough
And now…
