Addiction

Oprah’s book club is reading “A Million Little Pieces” by James Frey. It’s an account of the author’s struggle with addiction and how he eventually recovered. When I was in my 20s, I dated an addict for 3 years. I didn’t know he used drugs for at least the first year of our relationship and I was too naïve to even see the signs. He was from my church. He told my brother that he wanted to meet me. To this day, my brother feels bad that he had any part in what turned out to be one of the darkest periods of my life.

Once when we had been dating for a short time, I couldn’t get in touch with him for several days. I finally spoke to his mom and she told me he was in the hospital. I proceeded to ask her what was wrong, when would he be home, is he okay, etc… She was really indifferent. She didn’t know when he would be home or even what was wrong with him. In fact, she didn’t even go to see him, her only son. So I just sent flowers and waited to hear from him. He finally called. He told me that he had a seizure, but there was no permanent damage. I asked him what was up with his mom…she didn’t even seem concerned. He just brushed it off and said she’s always trippin’ about something. Later, I heard from someone at church that he was in the hospital because he overdosed. When I confronted him, he denied it of course. Months later, before his first stint in rehab while we were together, he came clean about a lot of things, including the mystery seizure. I should have walked away, but I didn’t. I thought that my love for him could save him. There is so much more to this story, too much for this forum.

I should write a book about my experience. It would make a great movie.