It wasn’t just pain pills, Patrick told them. Their son’s addiction was worse than they had thought. As they talked, though, a new reality quickly set in. He would attend Narcotics Anonymous meetings, he would obtain a sponsor - a fellow recovering addict to turn to during low moments - and life would go on. But they decided that he should be home now. Was he ready to be home? Did he have a plan to get a sponsor? Maybe he should start looking for a job or apply to graduate school?īefore he entered Recovery Works, the Georgetown treatment center, Patrick had been living in a condo his parents owned. Patrick took the footrest between them, sitting with his hands on his knees. Patrick’s father, Jim, took his usual seat in the big red chair, and Patrick’s mother, Anne Roberts, sat on the couch. Inside was a talisman he’d been given by the treatment facility: a hardcover fourth edition of the Alcoholics Anonymous bible known as “The Big Book.” Patrick had tagged some variation of his name or initials on the book’s surfaces with a ballpoint pen, and its pages were full of highlighting and bristling with Post-its.īack in the wood-paneled living room of their Lexington, Kentucky, home that afternoon, Patrick and his parents began an impromptu family meeting about what to do next. That day, in August 2013, Patrick got in the car and put the duffel bag on a seat. Photographs courtesy of Anne Roberts and Jim Cagey
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