Listen earnestly to anything your children want to tell you, no matter what. If you don’t listen eagerly to the little stuff when they are little, they won’t tell you the big stuff when they are big, because to them all of it has always been big stuff. — Catherine M. Wallace — Listening
I spoke to Dawn Clancy recently, creator of Growing Up Chaotic, a community for friends and families of addicts and survivors of abuse. Dawn and I met originally when we both wrote for AfterPartyMagazine. She shares some of her story with us and gives us some great advice on how to live a functional life, despite
Thanksgiving is my favorite time of the year. I love that the weather is starting to get cooler. It gets dark a little earlier which gives me warm loving feelings of family and a deep sense Gratitude. It’s a time for me to reflect on how far I’ve come in my life and
Where were you when I was sitting alone in the parking lot of the motel we called home? Where were you when I picked up that needle and stuck myself with it? Where were you? You knew he had HIV/AIDS. I used to cry and feel so lonely without you there. So
The next two chapters of Rosemary O’Connor’s book, “A Sober Mom’s Guide to Recovery — Taking Care of Yourself to Take Care of Your Kids”, deal with very important topics for anyone in sobriety, but maybe more so for Moms than anyone else. Without good communication skills, our relationships with our kids can be severely
They say that Warriors fight in faraway countries and distant shores, they are heroes and that is true they protect our freedom and we thank you. Mother Warriors are of a different breed, we have no training or general to take the lead. Our enemy is drugs, addiction, a disease, a despicable one! Our
Today, I can say with confidence, “I am the Mother” but my journey did not always look the way it does today. There was a time when I was very sick with a violent addiction so very lost. But because of Grace and Mercy I, the prodigal daughter, was allowed to return home.
“Parenthood remains the greatest single preserve of the amateur.” Alvin Toffler My daughter is everything to me. Smudge is now ten years old. Being her father has brought meaning to my life. Parenthood is a certain role in an uncertain universe. One of the most wonderful things about my recovery is the transformation of
In Rosemary O’Connor’s chapter called “Joy and Laughter”, she talks about the lack of those things while in the midst of the disease, and how she found them again in recovery. Rosemary talks about a number of instances that reminded her of the power of laughter and joy in everyday life. One of the places
It is my one-year wedding anniversary. Somehow I managed to not only piece myself together and stay sober, but I managed to be an equal to another human being. Another person who accepted my faults, my flaws, and stood with me on this journey. It’s amazing, amazing how Chris stuck with me during
