Quote of the Week


"If I cannot do great things, I can do small things in a great way" ~ Martin Luther King, Jr.



Congratulations to our Award-Winners!!
Posted by:Jenn--Tuesday, October 02, 2012

The Parents of the Year award will be presented to JESSICA & ROGER on Thursday, October 4 at an awards ceremony beginning at 6:00pm at the Allegheny County Courthouse.  In addition, Bam Bam will be there to receive the award for winning the essay contest. 

Congratulations to all!!!!  Anyone who would like to be there to cheer them on is invited to attend.

There will also be a celebration for Parents of the Year at our next meeting in Wilkinsburg on Saturday, October 6.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Jessica and Roger,
Congratulations!! I know I've said this to you before but you guys are my heroes. You have been so incredibly tenacious over the years, never giving up on Herman. AND, you've done it with a terrific humor that we all enjoy. Really, the Macy's Day balloon was a great visual. Thank you for your inspiration. A much deserved award.
Brigitte

Rocco said...

Congratulations Jessica and Roger,

While Sally and I truly wish that none of us ever had to suffer through our children’s addiction, we are sincerely thankful that we had the opportunity to meet such loving and caring people that we never would have met otherwise. We feel truly blessed to know you and call you our friends.

Let me paraphrase a summary of our May 2011 meeting of how you have exemplified what PSST is all about: In just about 6 months, Jessica and Roger have shown how you can go from pathologically compliant [thanks Jessica for the great description], confused and powerless to accepting the power and using it to assist their son Herman in his recovery.

They have learned to assert their parental authority and work with the system to see that Herman gets the best help that they can provide.

At the same time they have taken some time for themselves and the rest of their family to get back to what "normal" families do. They have also let Herman know that they will not accept his old behaviors and it is up to him to make them comfortable.

One of our mantras is that we did not cause our child’s addiction, we cannot control our child’s addiction and we cannot cure our child’s addiction. We can only change ourselves because without change there is little hope for our children to get the help that they need.

Congratulations again and thank you for being a big part of PSST.

Sincerely,

Sally and Rocco

P.S. Jessica, You really need to pursue a writing / song writing career. You have a special talent that has meant a lot to the rest of us. S & R

Anonymous said...

Jessica and Roger,
You are more than deserving of the parent of the year award. I love your humor and insight about what we all go through living with an addict. I have used the Macy's balloon analogy in telling people about what it is like living with a child who is addicted and wants to make everything about him. You have made us laugh and your songs make us smile when we are down.
Herman sounds like he is doing well,your contract is great. You have come a long way since your first day at PSST, We all understood your story back then,
as we were living it in our lives too. You were going through so much, and we all empathized and felt for you. You have come so far and you have taught us so much. We are glad you found PSST.
Alice and Ralph

Sally said...

Dear Jessica and Roger,

You are so deserving of this award. Rocco and I plan on being there tonight to applaud.

Sal

Betty Rubble said...

Congratulations! You two did a great job tonight with your acceptance speech for your well deserved award. I was just reading the other messages and curious what the Macy Day Balloon story is about? Nice to spend an evening with PSST members to applaud their accomplishments including BAMS award too. I'm inspired.
Betty Rubble

Jenn said...

Congratulations to both of you - you have been a terrific example for all of us, and we are proud of the success that you have achieved. Over the years, Jessica has also provided hours of entertainment for the group, injecting her humor into a multitude of frustrating & difficult situations.

And in answer to Betty's question about the Macy's Day balloon analogy, you can type BALLOONATIC into the "Search this Blog" window on the right side panel of this blog page, just to the right of the Quote of the Week. It will point you to Jessica's posting on that subject. Here's a great quote from her posting:

"The image of a huge Macy's parade balloon came into mind, because he completely fills up our home presently, making everyone else seem so small and unnoticeable, not to mention difficult to navigate around in our daily lives.

I also think it is fair to say that an addict who sees no need to be in recovery in order to stay clean, is very much like a large parade balloon; both are full of hot air/gas, and can float out of control do damage without controls in place."

Jenn


Wilma said...

Thanks for giving Bam a shout out for his winning the essay award. Fred and I are very proud of him for winning the award but also for the progress he has made in the last month or so. He has maintained his status at his placement, was chosen to be in a video for ABC which, according to my understanding, is a marketing video about a day in the life of a resident (Hollywood maybe??!!) and also for his gracious behavior on Thursday. Several of our PSST family got to meet Bam and commented that he didn't fit the description of the teenage addict wreaking havoc in our household and lives. and to tell the truth I didn't see that Bam Bam either. Who could believe this was the same kid punching out doors, walls, tractors!! I even got a few hugs reminding me of the boy he used to be-my sweet, lovable child. I think he is still in there and I hope to see more of him.
Kathie T got a very nice photo of Bam with his judge-they were looking very happy to see each other, a far cry from our last visit to Juvenile Court on
May 15th.

He told Lloyd that his essay could be posted on the blog so if you didn't get a chance to see it hanging on the hallowed walls of Juvenile Court you will be able to read it here.

Thanks again for all of your unconditional caring and support.

P.S. Jessica and Roger you are very deserving of your award. You have done so much for Herman and all of us in PSST. as you know (hopefully) your humor and sharing your story have been an inspiration.

Wilma

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