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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.

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