Recovery Moms

Recovery moms is a term I use to describe mothers whose children are in some stage of recovery from drug or alcohol addiction.  The kids range from pre-teen to teenager to young adult, but drug use at any age presents a special set of heartaches for the mother.

Recovery moms automatically exchange knowing looks when one says their child relapsed back into drug use and they are “going down that road again.”  The one whose child is currently clean and sober, or mostly so, is quietly hopeful but never far from the memory of “that road”.  It is so scary.  But one of the wisest Recovery Moms I know, my dear friend Barb, recently gave me a new way to see that experience.  She says that we are on that same road but the scenery changes.  She’s exactly right.  We are farther down the road – more able to handle it, and our kids have more recovery in them to call on when they find sobriety again.  I believe the way that road ends depends on our individual relationships to God, our Creator and Author of the very universe.  He can Reframe the pain, transform it into healing as “that road” intersects with healthy others, those He has placed in our path at that time for that very purpose.  All we have to do is keep the eyes of our soul open and be willing to let Him do it.

I didn’t set out to be a Recovery Mom – no one does – but I am grateful for the life lessons I’ve learned and the precious friendships that have shaped my life for the better.