I didn't cause it. I can't control it. I can't cure it.

We deny the severity of our loved one's problem not because we are naive, but because we can't know.

Why does it help to read others' stories? It is not only that misery loves company, because (I learned) misery is too self-absorbed to want much company. Others' experiences did help with my emotional struggle.

Through Nic's drug addiction, I have learned that parents can bear almost anything....I shock myself with my ability to rationalize and tolerate things once unthinkable. The rationalizations escalate....It's only marijuana. He gets high only on weekends. At least he's not using hard drugs.

Wherever you be, wherever you may, seek the truth, strive for the beautiful, achieve the good.

Along with the joy of parenthood, with every child comes a piercing vulnerability. It is at once sublime and terrifying

I'm not sure if I know any 'functional' families, if functional means a family without difficult times and members who don't have a full range of problems.