Sometimes when you are a parent you have to face tough issues as I recently have discovered. My 16 year old told my husband and I that she needed help with a drug problem...we knew that it was coming somewhere in the backs of our minds but when the reality is staring you in the face through your child's eyes somehow it is much harder to face.
She met with her counselor the next day then we all met the following day deciding that J had given it her best shot on her own but in the end as her counselor so eloquently put it, "the drugs where kicking her ass!" So two days later we were on our way to Boise a 3 hour drive to drop off our daughter at a rehab. This was one week before Christmas! She has been there for 14 days now and feels like she will be ready to come home this next weekend but I have to say I am scared. It isn't that I don't believe her it's just that coming home this weekend would be 3 days before the 21 day program or 9 days before the 28 days we had initially been told the program lasts. I just want to make sure that she is ready so that she has the best possible chance for sucess.
She is a very talented and bright girl and I am hoping that she can come back and with the depression/anxiety delt with be able to face life on life's terms and be happy. She has been struggling with these issues for quite sometime but they were next to impossible to treat while she was masking them with her drug use.
It has been a really hard time for our family but has brought us closer together and has made me really thankful for our extended family: parents, sisters and her brothers and sisters, aunts and uncles they have all been supportive calling her and letting her know how much we all love her. My sister that lives 1 hour away has went to visit her several times making this long stay away from us more bareable for me. I just hope they all know what a blessing they have been through this hard time.
Along with all the challenges this has presented I have also started my new job and really love it especially now that it is starting to make sense. So our next family counseling session is this Thursday and we will find out when she gets to come home so I will write again and let you know how we are all doing.
