WELCOME
You found a place where families battling addiction can find encouragement, honesty, and hope.
Our Stories
Shock and Denial
Shock and Denial: Story 2
Shock and Denial: Story 1
On a sunny summer day a few years ago, I found out that my beautiful, intelligent, love of my life daughter was an addict. It came out of the blue as strange as that sounds and I thought that I would die. But here it is years later and I have survived...
Shock and Denial: Story 1
Shock and Denial: Story 2
Shock and Denial: Story 1
I remember one day very vividly when I was cleaning Natalie’s bathroom. It was early on in my journey to realizing that my daughter was an addict:
“Ugh!” I groan crouching down and balancing on my knees. “There is no way that I should be doing this at her age!” I grumble...
Shock and Denial: Story 2
Shock and Denial: Story 2
Shock and Denial: Story 2
On another day, I am standing in the entry of a diner getting ready to grab a bite to eat. I cannot hear what the other person is saying because I am too busy making a mental list of all of the ways Natalie is “super.”
“Oh, she’s great!” I say. “Natalie is super!”
I haven’t gotten very far. So far, there are only two things on my list. Number one: She is still alive. (I know this because I checked her breathing this morning when I crept into her room before I left the house.) Number two: She is not missing like she was last week. She is home...
Pain and Guilt
Pain and Guilt: Story 1
Shock and Denial: Story 2
I think that the two most difficult emotions that I had to wrestle with while working through the grief of dealing with my daughter Natalie’s addiction, were the feelings of pain and guilt: Realizing that you and your loved one are both suffering from the pain that addiction brings is difficult to process. It sometimes it is a draw determining who is suffering more. And there really is no need to determine this, because there is plenty of pain to go around...
Pain and Guilt: Story 1
Pain and Guilt: Story 1
Pain and Guilt: Story 1
It is Easter and I have just found out that Natalie is an addict. In the back of my church, there is a six-foot-tall cross made out of cork. Below it are squares of paper and tacks and markers. The idea is for everyone to print a desire on one of the squares of paper and tack it to the cross, leaving it for someone else to choose and take home and pray on. After you place yours...
Pain and Guilt: Story 2
Pain and Guilt: Story 1
Pain and Guilt: Story 1
“Ouch!” I shriek. It’s early morning and I am in the bedroom alone. But the dog has come running so now there are two of us. I grimace in pain and don’t know what is wrong. But I say, “I’m okay.” I say this bravely to the dog who was at first looking up at me in concern. But, because I have spoken to him, is now happily wagging his tail...