As Jill is aging gracefully, she tells her story in order to help others who may be struggling, or have struggled with addiction, as well.
Please watch this video below! Jill and Kathryn met together for a sentimental trip down memory lane to celebrate their 60th birthdays. They were roommates at a college in Wyoming forty years ago, but a life-changing moment split them apart for the rest of their lives… until now.
Jill’s story may surprise you, but her attitude about her past may help you reconsider how you look at your own history!
Jill says her past is now her greatest asset.
Let’s be honest: It’s a rare family that hasn’t been touched by drugs or alcohol in today’s world.
Still, many adults choose not to talk openly about their own past use – or abuse – of alcohol or drugs, keeping their quiet secret of shame. And, that’s unfortunate.
Many parents hide their children’s addiction, too. One woman told me, “I’m so proud of my son being clean for over 10 years now, but I feel like it’s not fair for me to tell his story. It should come from him and I wish he would talk about it more.”
The fact is that addiction is all around us.
If one is not living in your own home, it’s likely you have an addict within a few doors of your home or maybe across the street. With no boundaries, addiction exists in the wealthiest homes as well as the poorest. It’s in solid families as well as broken. The educated are suffering just as much as the uneducated.
And, addiction has an enormous painful effect on all family members, not just the “user.”
People lose their parents, siblings, children, grandchildren, and friends to drugs or alcohol all too frequently. Addiction creates a continuous torturing stream of stress and
I know a beautiful family who has seen one of their children die from
Young families may look at their children with confidence and think it won’t happen to them, but the best protection is actually to talk about it openly.
I am so grateful to Jill to open the conversation here for all of us.
Please join the conversation with your comment below.
Has addiction touched you or your family?
Does your family talk openly about this disease?
Growing up with an alcoholic mother (in denial) I witnessed what alcohol can do first hand. Attending family events growing up on my mother’s side of the family there was always lots of alcohol and three of my uncles passed of heart attacks. I do recall getting intoxicated at a young age at my mother’s birthday (4th of July). There was always a family clambake and lots of alcohol. I did get caught but not really punished. I did drink a lot in my early 20s and when I went into the military there was the social drinking that went along with it. After I retired I decided I did not need alcohol in my life and gave it up totally in 2012. I gave all of the alcohol in the home away and do not need or miss it. I do talk with my siblings about why our mother drank and is it hereditary. Why we never saw our grandmother drink but all of her children did? I do not know the answer but do feel it is a choice and then a disease.
Hi cousin! Yep, your grandma and my great-grandmother raised all those big drinkers! I’ve always wondered if it had something to do with that time/era, also.