Nothing But Love :: golf blogger

PAY IT FORWARD

when matt and mel came to visit (i think in april), matt told jax that he should do motivational speaking. jax mulled it over for a couple days (2) and then told bill that he was going to call a high school in the area and talk to a counselor about speaking to a group of kids about drugs and recovery. the next morning, BEFORE JAX WAS EVEN UP, bill got a phone call from the intensive outpatient treatment counselor who treated jax, asking him and bill to be a part of a panel discussing prescription and over-the-counter drug abuse at a seminar that was going to be held for health and educational professionals at our local community college.

[if you're a regular reader here at nbl, you know that a big problem for jax was robitussin and coricidin. bill's written a lot about the problems with these otc cold treatments. if you haven't read about this here yet and you have kids, PLEASE educate yourself. bill's got links to information sites. i'll put up some links to what we've written about it, too. in the meantime, if you want some links, e-mail us.]

of course, bill said yes immediately for both he and jax. actually, ed (the counselor) asked both bill AND me; but bill felt that since it was only a half-day seminar, there might not be enough time for anybody else to speak, once stacey got going. haha, bill, haha. anyway, it was great. jax was awesome. he impressed a lot of people who attended and asked him for his phone number to speak to THEIR groups. and bill and jax got to verbally kick the "expert" pharmacist's ass, who, when asked directly about a robitussin "problem," said THERE WAS NO PROBLEM. WTF??? this is the real reason bill is glad i wasn't there. they sat quietly and waited their turn to kick his ass. you know i would have jumped up and beat him with my cane (metaphorically speaking, of course.) dumbass.

since this first seminar, jax and bill sat on another panel at a different seminar; and jax was invited to a large area high school to speak with a group of students.

it's awesome.

and. and. the director of a large area substance-abuse program told bill that the most unusual thing about our "story" is our willingness as parents to continue to address this and speak openly about the whole thing. that most parents whose children are in recovery choose to quietly resume their roles as part of "normal" society. you know - like "normal" people don't have these problems.

yeah. as if. whatever. you see, this is a big, big part of the problem. this problem is huge, people. and it doesn't only happen to bad people. like m.s. doesn't only happen to bad people. and. and. if you don't talk about it if you are or have been confronted with it, you MUST talk about it. and try to become part of the solution.

i am NOT ashamed. i will NEVER be ashamed. i have been blessed. gifted, even. and i believe that drug addiction was the greatest gift of jackson's life. to him. and, i hope, i pray, to a lot more people. i know i can count plenty already.

Posted by Stacey at June 3, 2004 12:17 PM