My Marvelous Journey

With addiction comes disappointment. The promises broken far outweigh the promises kept. When you live with an addict or an alcoholic do not rely on them to keep their promises. For the addict will always disappoint you even if they sound sincere, the further they get into their addiction or alcoholism the less the promise means and the more disappointed you become. It is truly a viscious cycle. So how do you deal with the disappointment? How do you manage being disappoin

We all experience grief in our own way. I suppose some people can process grief more easily than others. I am not one of those people. While its only been three months since Erik died, I find myself wading through a riptide of grief. I have reached out to people to talk to. I have gone to support groups. They all say the same thing, that this will be a long road and that I will never truly get over it. Then I began to wonder how the different beliefs and faiths help

After some confusion with my GPS map, I finally found the right building on the Hospice property where the bereavement support group meeting was being held. The first thing I learned is it’s not called grief support, they call it bereavement support. Does that make it sound better? Does that make the grief subside more quickly? I'm not sure. The woman hosting the group was polite and welcoming. She asked me to sign in and complete a few forms providing my information. Sh

Tonight I am going to my first grief support group meeting which is hosted by the local hospice. I heard it's a very good group. I don't know exactly what that means. I'm feeling a little anxious about it. In order to get through this, I need to be around other people who have. I hope it helps me. I have been to Al-Anon and Nar-Anon groups where you have to get up and say your name and explain why you're there. I am hoping that this meeting is not like that, but I suspect t

I had this dream a few nights ago. It was a weird dream. I was in an old fashioned home. The rooms were painted in dark colors. There were overstuffed chairs that filled the room. This house had large, heavy, wooden doors lined with thick wooden frames. There were a lot of doors. I kept opening them in search of the right door, in search of a way out. Like most dreams, this one seemed to weave in and out of whatever stream of thoughts there were swirling around in my h

The other day I was out walking the dogs. I heard a loud car coming down the street. It sounded like yours. I suddenly stopped and held my breath, listening as the car got closer and closer. For a moment I thought I would see you again until the car drove on by. It wasn't you and my heart shattered once more. I stood there in the yard, tears streaming down my face. This nightmare is still not over. You aren't coming back to this place. My dogs stood by my side, prob

Would I have to tell my entire story The first Nar-Anon meeting I went to was scary. Not because of the people I might meet there. It was scary for me because this was the first time I would tell people about the addict in my life. It was scary because I would have to say the words out loud and face this truth. I remember trying to find a meeting to attend. I wanted to go somewhere far enough from my home so no one would recognize me. Luckily for me, there were dozens of