Halfway House

Yesterday.

Yesterday, All my troubles seemed so far away, Now it looks as though they're here to stay, Oh, I believe in yesterday.

Yesterday, Love was such an easy game to play, Now I need a place to hide away, Oh, I believe in yesterday.


July 22nd, seems just yesterday, Susan traveled back to the Ranch, checked Sarah out, and drove ENE to Cincy for the night. Darn long day and about a 500 miles drive. North up Interstate 71 the next day to visit Mr. Singh's Halfway House in Ann Arbor.

The next yesterday. The House looked pretty good. More travel, this time to Grandma's cottage in the woods, or really at the Lake amidst the woods, in Honor-Beulah, MI. Melt down en route. Too much stress, too much change. A little fear. Despite the battle, Susan survived the ritual battle with Sarah. She didn't follow the same script of steamy mood, cat fight, anger, and then mommy-melts. This time there was no enabling our daugther. That's progress!

Sarah got it. No Indy! Didn't have to go to the Halfway House in Nashville. We compromised on Ann Arbor. She agreed. Thanks to some of Kevin's calmer perspectives and encouragement, we all took a deep breath and made it work.

After a few days R&R at the Lake, they both returned to Ann Arbor to "move in".

That whole ordeal was scary. Hats off to Sarah and to Susan. You did it! Tritely might I suggest that was the first day of your new phase of recovery. Getting there was not easy, neither symbolically nor in reality.

All that took place nearly 4 weeks ago. Yesterday.

Sarah moved in, met people, some her own age. She's gotten a job at a coffee shop on the edge of campus, a good bus ride from where she lives. She has curfew, must go to daily meetings, stay clean, keep working, and begin learning what it takes to adapt and live productively in society.

Bump in the Road: Oops. Anti-social activity got her and two others kicked out of the house one late evening. Fortunately, no one was arrested and fortunately she was able to stay with people she met at meetings. I think they call it a sober house. I wish there were guarantees about that. The two week banishment turned into just one week away from the Halfway House, or so we thought.

Susan and I went to Ann Arbor (AA?) last weekend. PDR. Pretty darn rainy. Pretty good visit despite Sarah's bizarre mood on Saturday. On Sunday an obviously tired Sarah went to breakfast and spent a few hours with us before we left. I thought we had a promise to go back to the Halfway House on Tuesday. That didn't happen until Thursday and even then it was stressful for everyone.

What does all of this mean?

Despite the vague answers, parental fears, deteriorated appearance, we (I) think she's making some progress. She says she likes the independence and that she doesn't want to come back to Indy and live at our house under our rules. Is that different from how most college kids feel when they forego the campus freedom and "go home"? Time will tell. It took me until my sophomore year to "move out" and not live with my folks again. It was time then. It is time for Sarah now. Childhood is over. The taste of independence is sweet, even if limited in the HH situation in AA.

Returning to the HH means the 30-day "no overnight" clock starts again. Actually she moved into a nearby house because of the previous roommate's petty theft history. Besides Sarah has a young friend with similar history in this new place. That's cool.

So the midday report is that Sarah is doing better than the economy. She's seems a bit like John McCain's assessment of the economy a week prior - "the fundamentals are sound."

Yesteday .... her hugs felt pretty good. Her words sounded pretty good. ....
Oh, I believe in yesterday.