Coffee, AA And A TED talk

My date

Was in recovery

She stopped drinking

2 years ago

I told her I was proud of her

And then asked a few questions about AA

Infinite Jest

By David Foster Wallace

Always had me curious

About AA

She told me that she too

Wants to publish a book

A book about her life and recovery

But she said she doesn’t think she’ll ever finish it

She is filming a documentary

About Substance Use Disorder (SUD)

I gently asked her

What mental illness she has

That lead to the substance abuse

“Bi-polar”

she said.

I hesitated

I tried

To hold back

But it came flooding out

I told her about all of the women that I knew now that got misdiagnosed with ‘Bi-polar Disorder’

They were all her age

When they got misdiagnosed

She started to talk about her therapy

And then

I took a breath

And spoke my peace

Because I felt

Like she needed

To be warned

I tried to be gentle

And easy to follow

But

I went on and on

Like I do

She very patiently listened

I knew it made her uncomfortable

But the dogmatic faith that my generation is putting in therapy

Is

Alarming to me

I don’t like dogma anywhere

But especially

When dealing with

The psyche

Which we still know

Almost nothing

About

“I feel like I’m at a TED Talk.”

She said

I tried to laugh

But honestly

This time

It stung

“Ha ha. I’ve been told that by a lot of my dates lately . . .”

I don’t want to give a TED Talk on a date

I don’t need to warn anyone

About anything

Especially when they feel

Like they are

Getting better

This lady had been sober for 2 years

And here I was

Spinning all of it

Like I do

And for what reason exactly

I am not sure

But I expect

That there won’t be

A second date

With this one

Oh well . . .

-C.H.