Some of you know I've moved to another city to take an outstanding job. So far, that's been a really good thing for me and my family. I have friends there, that I've reconnected with and am in the process of finding a temporary apt until I can move the fam up. Things are trucking right along.

Well. . .yeah.

The friends I'm staying with, they have a young man there. We'll call him Jon. Jon is a nice kid, really. Jon is also a recovering drug addict. I am a recovering alcoholic. We buzzed right up to each other like the proverbial moth to a light. LOL Bzzzzzzzzzzzt slam! That saying. ..about two addicts finding each other in a room of a million folks? It's true. . .oh so true.

So, I don't know that there's a major issue I want to say much about. . .I'm just worried. I can already sense that powerful codependency us folks have trying to kick in and I'm kicking back as hard as I can. I've been down this road before - he hasn't - and he is trying so hard to be "helpful" and nice and so on. He knows about my drinking, simply b/c it did come in all of us (my friends included) talking one afternoon. He's asked me a bit about it, and some things I've been happy to share, but some things I've told him, 'You know Jon, that was a really painful time for me, and I'm grateful I was able to work through that stuff, but I don't want to revisit it." I want to be encouraging to him in his journey, without sliding back into the mess that mine was. Does that make sense?

I went to my first meeting in a year up there too. The stress of being away from my kids, my husband, a new climate, finding a house, etc etc finally got to me. When I could taste the vodka and cranberry juice I realized I needed someone outside of me to be accountable with. Found one at the local church, and was getting ready to go and he came downstairs and said, "Are you going to the store?" No. "Are you going out?" Yes. "Could I go with you, I need to get out of here for a while." Stare. . .lol. So I said, "Jon, I'm going to an AA meeting. You're welcome to come along, but that's where I'm going and I take you with me you have to go too. I'm not dropping you off anywhere." He WANTED to go. So we get there, and get our coffee and I'm listening to some poor sap spilling his guts and Jon leans over and says, "They have NA after this. You can stay with me since I cam with you." I started to say something and then I realized. . .holy crap. He isn't just telling me what he's doing, he's actually ASKING me to stay with him. Wow. So, of course. We stayed. When we got home, my friends asked where we'd been and Jon took up off upstairs. Left me holding the bag. LOL I told them I went to a meeting and Jon went with me. They were like, "What?" I asked them, "Didn't you guys consider NA when he moved in?" and they said, "We mentioned it to him but he didn't want to go." I said, "Ever consider going WITH him?"

I wonder sometimes whether or not the struggle ever really ends.