By sharing the realities they never expected their families to face, mothers of addicted and alcoholic children support each other through experiences that can only be feared and imagined by others. But, developing from those shared struggles are lives of new-found understanding and personal growth-because together, we are stronger."We all need to take a closer look at the things we've avoided-the things lurking around in this place where love and addiction meet-so we're as strong as we can be."-Sandra Swenson, author of Tending DandelionsIn the shadows of our child's struggles with addiction, we find ourselves tending to a life for which we weren't prepared.These meditations continue the tradition of Hazelden's beloved meditation books by providing moments of recognition, confession, and healing for those who are realizing that recovery rarely follows a neat or comfortable path. Along the way, we plant beautiful roses only to be injured by their thorns, and we pull up unwanted dandelions that, at times, are our only source of wishes.By sharing the realities we never expected our families to face, mothers of addicted children support each other through experiences that can only be feared and imagined by others. From our shared struggles emerge opportunities for personal growth. Tending Dandelions is a vital source of wisdom, support, and strength that helps us begin our own journey of recovery.

Through her child's addiction, a divorce, beginning a career at sixty, caring for aging parents, and facing her own old age alone, Sandra Swenson shares her heartache and her journey of courage, resiliency, and acceptance, inspiring us to believe that no matter what comes our way, it is possible to say we're "just dandy" and (usually) mean it. In the pages of Just Dandy: Living with Heartache and Wishes, Sandra shares her pain and struggles, strength and determination, as crises continue to unravel her world in unexpected ways. A voice for parents of children suffering with the disease of addiction, Sandra puts their thoughts and feelings into words in this inspiring book--bringing hope, perspective, sanity and empowerment to moms everywhere.

By the age of twenty, Joey has OD'd, attempted suicide, quit college, survived a near-fatal car accident, done time behind bars, and been kicked out of rehab--more than once. "The Joey Song" tells the heartbreaking, frustrating, too-familiar story of a defiant, delusional addict and the mother who won't give up on him, until finally it hurts more to hang on than to let go.

Told with warmth and wit, "The Joey Song" may jolt you; it may bring you to tears, and it may shatter every assumption you ever made about the family of an addict. No blame or shame from others can surpass the suffering an addict can inflict on the ones who love him best. Yet author and mother Sandra Swenson discovers life lessons she needed to learn in the experience no mother should ever have to endure.

Endure it she does, and not only that, she survives to tell this tale, which has already helped thousands of others.

This is the flip side of the heartwarming recovery story we all want to believe in, but it's one that's more common than anyone wants to admit. "The Joey Song" is the book that lets despairing parents of addicts know it's okay to save your own life when your kid has no intention of saving his.

Sandra Swenson is the mother of two sons--one of whom is an addict. As a member of the Junior Women's Club of Chevy Chase, Sandy created the Bistro Boyz, a program for young men from the National Center for Children and Families' Greentree Adolescent Program.