"We were in the kitchen, my mom freshly sober and beaming with Pinterest-level optimism, showing me how to mince herbs the "right" way. She'd never cooked for me growing up - never packed a lunch, never stirred soup. But that week, she was in full redemption mode: shopping at Whole Foods, binge-watching feel-good movies and promising to be the mom I always needed."
"Just six months earlier, she'd been living in Texas - trapped in a cycle of alcohol, drugs and eviction notices. She and her husband were broke, desperate and spiraling. Then their trailer literally caught fire, and they ended up at my grandmother's in Louisiana. Somewhere between rock bottom and a megachurch that specialized in redemption arcs, she found sobriety. And Jesus."
The narrator's mother resurfaces sober, radiant, and eager to make up for years of neglect by learning to cook and engaging in wholesome activities. Six months earlier she had lived in Texas, trapped in addiction, eviction, and poverty; a trailer fire preceded a move to the grandmother's home in Louisiana. Recovery followed involvement with a megachurch and adoption of faith. The mother demonstrates visible physical and emotional change during an airport reunion and subsequent days of grocery runs, shopping, and domestic lessons. The narrator experiences low-key joy while remaining guarded, anticipating potential relapse based on past trauma.
Read at HuffPost
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