Nah, before I say g'night, I want to show you something.
This is a picture of my brothers and I talking. You can see the tip of my boot. We did this for most of three hours tonight. That's not amazing. What's amazing is that the skinny, bearded guy in the middle is in the picture at all. That's my youngest brother Nathan.
Nate is a Type II bipolar. He started using again about two years ago. We knew something was wrong, but we have a long history, so we didn't know if he was using or just being mentally ill. But then it took a serious detour and we knew what was happening, and it got ugly. That was about thirteen days ago. He was a dead man walking, but my long-suffering sister managed to get him into an ER at Harborview Medical Center, where he spent 10 days detoxing. Then he crawled up inside my guest room on Friday, while we work to get him into a rehab program.
Tonight, my brothers and I spent three hours talking. Nathan is lucid, present, and for the moment, at least, he is committed to the coming rehab. Thad and I - that's Thad on the left - are just happy to have our brother back for a moment.
It was a good night. We talked. We made plans. We tried to keep everything in perspective, and focus on getting through the day. But there was hope. My brother Nate was there, and he was talking.
I wish for all of you that you never have to deal with addiction issues in your family. If you do, I'll be there. My clan will be there. It is my hope that my brother Nathan will be there.
Peace, my friends. I truly do love you all.
That's a lot to go through. I wish you all the best, especially Nathan. I'm happy he's got good people in his corner.
Ditto
I've seen way too many families tore up by this. I hope your brother finds his way.
My clan is a tight bunch. This couldn't tear us up. It strains, occasionally, but not enough to splinter us. My eldest niece flirted with drugs and nearly bought the farm when she got some Valium that turned out to be fentanyl. Scared her straight. We got through it.
It helps with Nate, this time around, that my sister is quite wealthy, and about to become thrice as wealthy when she marries Bill Roy this summer. It would be a struggle for the family to put Nate through rehab right now, because Dad's scaling down his working life and we're making up the income shortfall for him. We'd do it, if we had to, but Beth has been managing Nathan for a long time, and she says she's got this.
There are two sets of us siblings. I'm the oldest, Thad is three years younger than me. Then, after ten years, mom and dad decided to have another - Nathan. Beth was an accident two years later. So Thad and I grew up very close, and Nate and Beth did the same behind us. Beth can be tough as nails, but she has a soft spot for Nathan, and he does for her as well. When he's at his worst, she's the only one he'll listen to. The sisters-in-law, Thad's wife Deanne and my wife Carol, are not remotely inclined to put up with Nathan's bullshit, but when he's trying to get his shit together, they are very protective of him.
So...we're built for this. I could spend hours telling the story of the Holtz clan, and why those that know us are often fascinated by our clan. But I won't bore you more than I have.
