April 22, 2008 · 3 comments

Ok, so I didn’t get the pictures of my lanyards uploaded, but I do have them.  My employees? Loved them. (Or they fake their enthusiasm very well. Either way…).

My pictures from the water park? GONE. Long story short, the idiot at Target Photo exposed the film before processing. See why I only love my digital these days??  If we went to the water park more often or lived near the beach, I would totally have one of these. But trust me when I tell you my boys are totally adorable soaking wet, and the look on Matt’s face was priceless the whole time we were there.

Matt is having poopoo problems again.  I can’t figure it out. He actually eats well, he drinks a ton of fluids and gets exercise like crazy.  But it seems like every couple/few weeks, he has this problem. I think he doesn’t feel like going because he’s playing or busy or lazy or something, holds it in, and then it’s a huge problem.  But, no matter the cause, it totally sucks for him and us.

My friend is going through a big bad family thing lately and I feel so bad for her. Her nephew has a major prescription drug problem, and while he asked for help a couple of months ago, he hadn’t really hit rock bottom (he just needed money to pay some debts).  But now the family pretty much has reached the end of their collective rope and they are preparing for an intervention and attempting to prepare themselves for the emotional side of cutting someone off for his own good.  They are an awesome family, and while they have their dysfunctions like all of us, this is particularly hard for them. I hope that they all, especially her nephew’s mom, have the strength to really cut him off.

My brother is 17 years sober this year. When I was young and didn’t really get what being drunk or high meant (he’s 5 years older than me and we were younger in my day), he was testing his limits, hanging out with the “wrong crowd”, getting brought home in police cars and generally causing all sorts of emotional havoc.  My parents decided that he needed help, so they decided on a drug-treatment program.  At the time it was located in Cincinnati, and it was inpatient.  He was to live with a host family with other guys in the same age /situation; their host brother was further along in the program.  It was a family program and required all of us going to meetings on Friday nights.  It was a 4 hour drive.  Both ways.  It was a lot of work, and I was just old enough to be annoyed and put out by the whole thing.  Why did *I* have to go to meetings and write things? *I* didn’t DO anything!  But eventually, I learned about addiction and enabling and what having a brother involved in all of that stuff meant.

Later in his program, he was able to come home. They had opened a local facility and we became a host family. There were rules galore. Doors locked, no tv, no music unless approved; lots of little things that this little sister didn’t appreciate in her formative years. The program was by no means perfect – it catered to the needs and wants of the parents; the kids were basically rehabbed by each other. But in exchange I got my brother back, so it was worth it.  That wasn’t the end of his struggles, but he’s in a good place now and hasn’t had a drink in almost 17 years.  He’s active with AA and I couldn’t be more proud of him.

My friend’s nephew is older than my brother was, but I sincerely hope this intervention works for him and them. It’s horrible to watch someone you love suffer; even worse when they are in denial.

Phew, I need a drink….

LOL.

🙂

{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }

liv April 23, 2008 at 5:21 pm

I need a drink, too. Let’s meet at that place we always go right down there on the corner. 7pm? Whaddaya say? I’ll buy the first round.

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pgoodness April 23, 2008 at 6:15 pm

liv – seriously! if your corner were anywhere near my corner….

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amanda April 25, 2008 at 10:45 am

Oh, wish I could come and give you a shoulder to lean on, or you know, say something really crass and crack you up.

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