I had been in treatment for 6 months. It felt weird to not taking part in what most people my age were doing. After high school, I messed around and didn't consider college. I actually never saw that as my future because I always wanted to be a firefighter like my dad. 

         After all this time I forgot what it was like to be on the outside. This program was pretty intense. It was a lot of therapy and talking about feels which is something I've never been good at. I needed this after using drugs for so long. I could be here for even close to a year, but my doctors have said I'm doing good. 

        There was one big step and that was the dreaded family therapy. My parents in the same room as me, that was going to be tough. 

My dad hugged me tight, not saying any words 

I held on for a few minutes " I missed you dad!"

He looked at me " you look good TK"

I looked at him and smirked a little " thanks..."

My mom walked in " TK!"

I hugged her, but this was hard " hi mom"

I hadn't seen my mom since she kicked me out and uprooted me to my dads full time. This couldn't go well. 

The Dr looked at them " Family is really important for TK's recovery and to maintain sobriety. He's been taking the steps and as his family he needs you to listen and try and understand and that's what this session today is meant to accomplish."

I looked at them " I'm sorry... I know I disappointed you and i'm sorry. I haven't been myself for a long time and yeah that's kinda because of the drugs..."

My mom looked at me " honey i'm glad your getting better.... but when you get out I just want you to know you can come home with me."

I looked at her " i'm sorry mom but I can't."

She looked at me " oh honey... of course you can!"

I looked at her " mom I can't. I'm still gonna live with dad. You told me to hide the fact that i'm gay. You wanted me to shut out myself from the world. I can't do that anymore..."

The doctor looked at me " that's valid TK... how does all this make you feel!"

I looked down " I don't know... I guess the drugs for me was all about coping and getting through not being able to feel like I could be myself..."

The doctor looked at me " well your doing great and I don't see why you wouldn't be able to be released within the next few weeks... so how do you feel about that?"

I sat there " scared.... out there there's temptations and old friends and I worry that I might get back into old habits..."

He looked at me " and what did we say about that..."

I looked at him " that I need to stick with my routine and making new friendships and not going back to old friends that bring up the bad habits..."

I was ready to go home, but I still knew there was a lot of work to be done.