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.