Love is an Action Word

Love-is-an-Action-Word_Blog-Pic_Marsha-and-Sons

Well today is the big day!

Well today is the big day! After much dreaming and planning- Spearhead Lodge officially opens today!   I feel like I am watching my child walk up the steps to the first day of kindergarten! Nervous, excited, full of pangs of joy and sadness all mixed into a great big smile and a full and grateful heart.

I find my mind drifting back to the nights when my two oldest sons raised their hands and asked for help with their addiction. The phone rings and the familiar voice on the line says “Mama I can’t stop drinking and using. Will you help me?” In an instant the world stops for a moment. Come home. That’s what you say. Of course that’s what you say. Come home and we will figure this out together. Then the family meeting…

And, despite everything I know about alcoholism and addiction, I felt somehow responsible for the pain and anguish I saw in their eyes. What’s next? I did what parents do. I took action to take care of my boys. By reaching out to friends I trusted for help, I was able to get them quickly into treatment and thankfully they are both thriving in their recoveries today.

But the thoughts continued to linger. I was moved by their experiences. And I was moved by my own experience. In the past seven years the addiction epidemic in this country has shown up at BRC in our census. Our median age has gotten younger and younger, and the clients have presented with more and more clinical complications.

What’s happening? Why all the surge in addiction? Is it really just over prescribing? Is it greed? A combination of both? Or is it a hurting America? Broken families and broken hearts? The need for more and more anesthesia in whatever form is readily available…

I don’t think there’s a solution in simply answering or debating the ‘why’ question, although it’s quite valid. Instead, I find myself drawn to finding a solution. Or creating one.

A place where young men would be focused on recovery. Where their natural energy would be seen as an asset and not as a distraction. Where experiential and recreational therapy are utilized in order to engage young men. And where recovery is presented as a process of change that looks appealing and fun!

The Big Book states on pg 124, “The alcoholic’s past thus becomes the principal asset of the family and frequently almost the only one! This painful past may be of infinite value to other families still struggling with their problem.”

This has certainly been my experience, both as a woman in recovery and now as the mom of two young men in recovery. So I present to you- Spearhead Lodge. What a wonderful blessing of pain and providence. My hope and prayer is that this tangible expression of pain, experience and hope will bless countless young men and their families with the gift of lasting recovery, freedom and happiness. TYG

Love-is-an-Action-Word-_Marsha-Stone#hookEMwithAVision

Marsha Stone, CEO
BRC Recovery

Save