Earning and learning

Just a short update.

We did not see our son at the Friday night family session. We had other plans, which is healthy for us as a family. We are learning that these visits are healthy for us and our son, and if he continues to do the hard work to beat his addiction he will earn more of them, and he will learn that good things come to those who work hard.

We did go see him on Saturday for the day. He earned an 8 hour offsite so we picked him up, did some drive bys of some sober houses that he may move into next. After that we took a drive down to LBI for the afternoon, had lunch at one of our favorite restaurants, walked on the beach a bit, did some shopping (great sales right now down there) and before we knew it the day had passed and we had to get him back, but not before stopping for some great pizza.

All in all it was a good day. We got a chance to act like a normal family and we were able to have some frank discussions about his addiction, his future, and how much he has grown. We truly believe he wants to do better, that he wants to kick this and is committed to working hard to do so. Only time will tell because he will always have that monkey on his shoulder, urging him to use. We just hope he has the tools to continue moving forward.

Next steps for him are to arrange interviews at some of the nearby sober houses, and figure out the logistics of getting there and back, and how he will get to his meetings, out-patient, and work once he moves. This work is ALL on him because if we did it for him he will learn nothing, and his disease would get the message and mommy and daddy will make things easy for him. He has to EARN his move out of the treatment facility and into a sober house, and his has to earn it by doing the work himself.