Sublime

I watched the lives of others with a sense of wistfulness. I missed the burn of Scotch in my throat, the loose joy of a dinner party where everyone got a little high on talk. I wanted to be sloppy and fun again. “How are you doing?” Gina asked one morning. “I don’t know if I can take this anymore,” I told her. “I just want to get better. I want to

She’d persisted herself into a narcotic, and though I hate to admit it, I became as attached to her as I was to Hadley.”

Parents are expected to deal with an illness that doctors not only know little about but also are wary of diagnosing in the first place. Parents are set adrift inside a house that has become a war zone, dealing with feelings that alternate from extreme anger at the child to the most unbelievable yearning to help that child, from rage at the outside

I took a deep breath and said, “Jonas, I’m burning down my life. I want to stop but I don’t know how so I just keep burning it down and soon there will be nothing left and I just, I need help. Somebody needs to tell me how to be a better person.” Jonas didn’t say anything back. He just pulled me into a hug. I barely knew him, and I still wasn’t eve

From Addict in the Family: “None of this is easy. Addicts’ families walk an unhappy path that is strewn with many pitfalls and false starts. Mistakes are inevitable. Pain is inevitable. But so are growth and wisdom and serenity if families approach addiction with an open mind, a willingness to learn, and the acceptance that recovery, like addiction

But in the world of satisfying stories—her preferred domain—both of Olivia’s parents are so much less than they should have been.

susurrus