family - Answer Addiction

Evolution of a Beard: My Growth as Reflected Through Facial Hair

My hatred and rage grew alongside my father’s beard. Beards represented mental illness. Beards represented embarrassment. Beards represented my failed family. The last time I saw my father without a beard was the night he accused me of being an alien sent to harvest his testicles. It was the summer before I entered eighth grade.… Continue reading Evolution of a Beard: My Growth as Reflected Through Facial Hair

Death Threat: The Unique Dangers of Grieving in Recovery

Though I’ve developed tools for dealing with heartache and anguish in sobriety, this level of grief is a sadness on steroids against which I feel futile and frightened. My father’s older brother, Stephen Dale, died at age 69 in mid-August. He was more than the family’s patriarch; he was its ballast, its mooring. The home… Continue reading Death Threat: The Unique Dangers of Grieving in Recovery

My "Beautiful Boy": David Sheff on Bringing His Family’s Story to the Big Screen

While watching the film, I would look over at Nic sitting next to me and get so emotional. I would start to cry and I feel like I’m about to start crying right now because I came so close to losing him. In “The David Sheff Solution,” The Fix interviewed the National Book Award-winning author of… Continue reading My "Beautiful Boy": David Sheff on Bringing His Family’s Story to the Big Screen

In Praise of the Geographical Cure

For me, leaving was about survival and going back to supportive friends and family who had known me my whole life and who would give me a temporary place to stay. When I moved to the city of my dreams, I drove my Navy Subaru Impreza stuffed so full that I couldn’t see out of… Continue reading In Praise of the Geographical Cure

The Rules of Marriage…In Recovery

Even though it’s a positive change, adjusting to marriage with a newly sober spouse is a challenge. Some situations are a little tricky to navigate. After being with my husband for 15 years, it might seem like there would be few suprises left. We have the kind of relationship that includes conversations like, “Hey, Harmony,… Continue reading The Rules of Marriage…In Recovery

Married to a Normie: Relationship Rules

Beautiful Boy: An Interview with Nic Sheff

“A really cool expression of the family bond in the film is how the love survives everything that the disease can throw at it. Despite so much trauma, at the very end, you see that that core love never goes away.”The journey from addiction to recovery is a personal one, with details usually confined to… Continue reading Beautiful Boy: An Interview with Nic Sheff

Kicking Heroin Cold Turkey Changed My Life

Nobody ever tells you how it feels, especially for the first time. This was the most pain and anguish I had ever experienced in my life, and I had given it my best shot, but there was really no point in going on. There were three of us. Eric was dashing and handsome, with eyes… Continue reading Kicking Heroin Cold Turkey Changed My Life

Don't Blame Ariana Grande for Mac Miller's Death

The idea that someone holds another person’s very life in their hands and has the power to determine whether that person lives or dies is a painful and damaging misconception. I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t know very much about Mac Miller. I’ve never listened to his music or attended one of… Continue reading Don't Blame Ariana Grande for Mac Miller's Death

"I Wish Daddy Didn't Drink So Much": Judith Vigna’s Misguided Bibliotherapy

Vigna seems convinced that a few watercolor washes can make the world a better place, but her idealism is misguided; stories of the horrible undercurrent of the real world are more likely to scare children. Although the following review is not positive, I empathize with what Judith Vigna tried to accomplish. In the late 1980’s,… Continue reading "I Wish Daddy Didn't Drink So Much": Judith Vigna’s Misguided Bibliotherapy