Part II:Rhetoric

When she starts talking about her “higher power” she slips unconsciously into a Southern accent, very unlike her native Vermont one. When she says “I’m an addict” I know she’s in that self-deprecating, “pity me” mood, she is not going to be responsible for her own bitchiness. When she says “That’s stinkin’ thinkin’” it is time for her to talk about how she’ll always be an addict and she’ll never be normal, ever. When she says “When I get ‘overtired’ I act crazy and I’m likely to have 'cravings'” that is my cue that she’s excused herself from watching this movie we rented. When she says “I’ve been ‘up in my own head’ all day” I know someone at her NA meeting told her that. When I say "Looks like you've replaced your addiction with an addiction to NA meetings" she says I don't understand and says "If I go 'back out', I will die. It happens every day." When she says “I really need to go to a meeting” I know all she sees are bad influences around her, after all, her adult child “enabled” her addiction for years. Translation: We used to party. When she says “Well he’s an addict” I think, “judge only yourself by your strenuous standards.” When she says “You gotta pray, cause voting’s not working” I say “Fuck you!”