Heavy Hearts

I posted the following message on my Facebook page : Parenting Teens a couple months ago:
"I can't help but to wonder, how do parents with teenagers in jail, group homes and homeless on the street function and go about their daily lives with so much pain in their hearts? How do they maintain any happiness when they know that their child is suffering and there is nothing they, or anyone else, can do to help or to help them make the positive choices they need to make to solve their problems? I keep thinking, every one of those teenagers in the detention center, every one of those kids on the street has a family, how do their families go to bed at night and sleep when they don't know where their child is sleeping? How many parents that we see every day are suffering in silence?
Remember not to be too quick to judge, it could be your kid!"

Since I wrote this, 2 months ago, I have had this experience, my 16 year old has been in jail, homeless on the street and in a group home. My heart is heavy with sorrow, there were days, and are still days,  when I wondered how I would make it through the day, how I could possibly sleep when I didn't know where my son was, how I could possibly go about my day when I felt so much pain, but I did and I am.

"How are you?" this common, casual greeting has become one of my least favorite questions. How can I answer that question when I meet up with someone, I am SUFFERING, I am IN PAIN, my heart IS BROKEN. Of course you cannot go on like this every day. So I guess, my answer to my own question of how do these parents go on? We just do, we find something to look forward to, we find strength in support groups such as Nar Anon or Al Anon or another support group of parents going through a child's addiction, we find something that makes us happy and focus on that, and we know in our hearts that the best thing for our child, at this point, is to let go.