Evelyn from Seattle
That there is so much more to life than the life a drug addict lives. I think they don't always see that. That even family members can cause you life-erupting pain, and how important it is to face them with compassion (although it is okay to be angry too). That I have lost half of my friends and my sister to heroin addiction and that AA and Al-Anon works if you work the program.
That even though I live half way across the world now, and have no control over what is happening at home, I still feel the pain everywhere in my body when I think about my sister and all my friends whom I haven't spoken with in months. When I think of Seattle where I have lived the first 19 years of my life, the thought of returning home doesn't appeal anymore. When I think of home, I see a dark cloud of anger and pain and people I miss dearly, the constant dark clouds over Seattle have become so much worse than only the stereotypical weather. When I picture Seattle now I picture Pan's Labyrinth, a dark and twisted place that I have no desire to re-enter anytime soon.