Back from the beach for almost two weeks now. Settling in but still find the transitions from one place to another a bit draining. Didn’t get much sleep on Friday night. I attribute that to the Super Moon which kept me up until 3 in the morning. Did anyone else have that experience?
Last night we invited our daughter and her boyfriend over for Sunday dinner. Earlier in the day, with some hesitation and trepidation, we asked our son to join us.
M moved into an apartment with a friend a couple of weeks ago. We decided to foot the bill, not so much to enable him but so that we could sleep at night knowing that he is safe. We’ve struggled about what the right thing to do is and so far this appears to be a good move.
The dinner turned out to be wonderful. M was clearly on his best behavior and was quite entertaining. He’s really a funny guy when he’s relaxed and not full of rage. His anger started to bubble over a couple of times but he kept it in check and I think the fact that our daughter’s boyfriend was there made a big difference.
I’m really grateful for this family time. This is what I’ve always wanted, easy comfortable time with my husband and our two kids. The last time he came over for Sunday dinner was a disaster ending up with us threatening to call the police to get him out of the house. Now I have some hope that our relationship can be repaired.
I’m so grateful to Al-Anon for helping us to get where we are with our son. Al-Anon has given me the tools to take this one step at a time, and pray for guidance along the way. I’m also grateful to have this blog, where I can share my feelings and experiences with others who may have similar challenges in their lives. Thanks for being here.
What progress. My Al-Anon sponsor always says, “compare yourself to yourself.” This goes for the family, too—I try not to compare my family with other families, but with our own in the past. Glad you were able to enjoy this time. love /G
That’s a pleasant memory to put into your family’s “heart locker” for later retrieval and remembering. May you see repeats of this day with growth and development for all.
I think that Al-Anon has helped me to “roll” better with life and what it brings. I have so lowered my expectations of the behavior of others. And that is something that I learned in recovery. How can I expect others to live up to my lofty ideals when I can’t even do that? I’m glad that the dinner went well. It’s hard to eat when there is a lump in your throat.