Off the Grid

Today, I made the choice to stay off of my computer and read in my bedroom. We have lots of places we can read in. Joe will often sit in the living room or in the family room to read.

I prefer our bedroom. Reading in my room reminds me of my teen years when I would escape the common areas full of one or more other members of our family of seven. Reading in the bedroom satisfies my introvert soul.

Instead of reading, I listened to an eleven episode podcast - Hooked - about Tony Hathaway’s addiction journey. From his career as an engineer at Boeing through the thirty bank robberies he committed to fund his addiction. It all started with a sports related back injury and prescription for OxyContin. 

This strikes close to home as my father was a prescription drug addict after a work injury shattered his pelvis and he was prescribed Talwin. He took the drug for approximately ten years, with the dosage gradually increasing from 5cc a week (injectable) in 1966 to 25cc a day by 1976. During the time he used Talwin he did not resort to robbing banks.

Instead he attended a trade school, finishing a 2-year program in eighteen months, and was able to land a job as a quality inspector. Still, his addiction was hard for him and for his family. 

The Hooked podcast was therapeutic for me. The opportunity to hear an addiction story first hand from the addicts viewpoint gave me insight into my dad’s addiction.

I wrote this blog entry on my mobile phone as I wanted to avoid firing up the computer.