Ring the Curtain

The curtain rang down on a chapter of my life on Tuesday. My paternal grandmother passed away. She was 83. She is survived by three siblings, three children, 14 grandchildren and 23 great grandchildren. She was my last living grandparent.

When I was born all of my great-grandparents were living. It actually is more common than one might expect. Today all of my grandparents have passed.

It is interesting to me that the first sons of all my grandmother’s children have had epic struggles with addiction. Two of us have been in prison over it; me for crystal meth and my cousin for cocaine. My other cousin is the kind of classic alcoholic that the Big Book talks about. The last time he was admitted to an emergency room he had consumed so much mouthwash that no one expected him to live. By some miracle today all of us are sober.

I am incredibly grateful that I had the chance to spend some time with grandma after I got sober. Our family vacation near Sundance was the first time most of my family, including Grandma, had seen me since my grandfather’s funeral when it was evident to everyone that I wasn’t doing well at all. Another occasion after that we got to spend a little time visiting, just the two of us.

Even as the curtain rang down on that part of my life I am ringing the curtain up on a project that, while my contribution is minor, I am amazed to be a part of. The first preview of the multi-media theater piece produced by the Idaho Actors Collective was tonight. There was great feedback from the audience which included a representative from the State Board of Education. The goal is to bring the show to 100 middle schools in the 2008-9 academic year. None of us involved were ever moved by any of the anti-drug propaganda that we were exposed to but we all agree that we were never told true stories by our peers and that is precisely what we’ve set out to do. We have a cast of very young, very likable characters sharing real experience. We think we have something that our audience will actually connect with and that it will help open up real communication in the communities that see the project. Perhaps most importantly it will help break down the denial that exists largely among the parents and educators of the kids the show reaches. I am grateful that I have been able to contribute something to this project.

So that’s it. Curtain down. Curtain up.