Last Family Group and THANK YOU

Thanks for the comments left on my last post.  I was in such a horrible place when I wrote that but the comments and talking to Keven helped.

I wish all of you could've been at Family Group tonight, there was a bit of tension in the room (and by a bit, I mean A LOT).  It was a lot of new people in the group and one woman was there in support of her father.  She didn't say much until near the end when she spoke up after someone shared something about their mother.  With an indignant tone in her voice she had the audacity to say (in a room full of addicts and their parents) that if the mother would have done somethinig earlier she could have stopped her son from becoming an addict.

Well.  The room started buzzing and our fearless leader then gave his (long and boring because we'd heard it so many times in the last three months) spiel on how addiction is a disease, etc. etc. etc.

After this we all assumed the woman would realize that
a) she didn't know what she was talking about
and
b) that she had insulted every parent in the room and caused most of the children to be very angry because they knew it was not their parents fault

But no....she said, "I disagree.  If that mom would have done x, y & z things would have turned out different".  I think I saw steam coming out of the ears of the guy who's mom she was talking about (the mom was not there).

So then all the addicts stared to speak up to defend their parents saying things like "there was nothing my parents could have done to change the outcome...."  Keven added his two cents too.

But she still insisted that parents are responsible for how their kids turn out and that HER three children (teens/20's) were fine because she was strict with them and would not let them get away with using drugs.

At this point we all gave up and I silently prayed that her kids would never be addicted because she would blame herself.

After group I had to say goodbye to a few people I'd never see again, it  was a bit sad.  I've seen quite a few come and go over the last three months and you get attached to some people after hearing such intimate details of their life, such raw emotions shared in our groups.

I overheard one mother telling Keven she was glad she had met him because he had totally changed her view of tattoos and plugs and would never judge a guy by his earrings again :)  Then she told me how impressed she was with him.  Needless to say, that meant a lot.

I said goodbye to a cute young girl that was my personal favorite of the group.  I say young - she's 29.  Anyhow I will miss her honesty and her enthusiasm.  I hope she makes it this time.

Keven moves out of his house on Tuesday.

Peace, Hope and Love, Barbara