A Perfect Storm
What did I do wrong?

I’m not making excuses, but every parent of an addict wants to know where it all went wrong. How did my child become an addict? Let me start by saying we are a normal, middle class family. I’m a teacher, my husband is a professional. We are not poor, but we are not rich. Education is valued, our kids are expected to go to college. They played sports, and were in clubs all the way through school. Heck, I was a stay at home mom until they were all in school. We shouldn’t have a child who is an addict.
Sasha was a good student until she got to middle school. She couldn’t get work done or turned in on time. We chalked up her problems there with being disorganized and flighty.
In high school, she started having health issues. First, came the chronic kidney stones. Then the bad shoulder. Both health problems required a lot of pain medication over a long period of time.
Next, add in the low self esteem. I have no clue why this girl has low self esteem but she does. If you saw a picture of her, you would be wondering why she isn’t a model. She is that beautiful. Bullying has some blame here. There were some mean girls in her school that did some awful things to her over the years. Because of this, we pulled her out of her high school and allowed her to go to the alternative high school in our town. Looking back, I feel like there was probably a better choice. We didn’t know it back then, but she was already hanging out with kids that drank and smoked pot and by putting her in the alternative high school, this was who she was now with all day, everyday.
Finally, I think Sasha has an addictive personality. I actually think I do, too. My drug is shopping. So when I add up all of these things that contributed to Sasha’s addiction, I equate it to a perfect storm that came together and continues to try and swallow up my family.
We are normal people. Addiction happens to normal people. We didn’t do anything wrong, it just happened. It was a perfect storm.
