My mother and I had a Christmas tea party today. We had noshes and tea and coffee for family friends and some friends from Quaker meeting. 

At one point everyone was sitting around in a big circle eating and talking about concern for a friend who couldn’t be there because her cancer had flared up again, and how they might help her. I suggested that the outline of a WRAP type thing could be a helpful thing for her to do, so she can outline the types of things she wants and needs help with during and after chemo. One lady piped up, “Oh you have a WRAP. That’s great!” Several others piped up, “What’s a WRAP?” So I told them it was a wellness recovery action plan, and I had it for bipolar disorder so me and the folks who help me can know what I want and how to help if/when I have an episode. Several got all excited about the idea, and how it could be applied to a situation like our friend with cancer as well as for mental illness. A couple asked if I had a bipolar website and wanted to know more about it. No one gasped or hid under a chair or started talking about the weather.  That was kind of cool.

The only freaky thing that happened had more to do with the eating than talking about bipolar. I bit into this yummy looking chocolate thing that someone had brought and whoa! Explosion of booze in my mouth!  Well I haven’t had a drink in over 13 years and I was totally shocked. I did NOT want to be eating that thing. A friend who works in substance abuse and is in recovery herself happened to be looking and asked if I was ok. I gasped “Bourbon ball!” then jumped up and ran to the bathroom to spit it out.  Someone asked if there was something wrong with the bourbon balls. I  said I’d busted my hump for 13 years of recovery from alcoholism, and I didn’t want to blow it for a bourbon ball. Rather than being alarmed, they just laughed and said that was probably a good idea.

We didn’t spend the whole time having such unusual party converation, though. We also ate a bunch of crunchy and salty and sugary goodies and ham biscuits and slurped down tea and coffee.  We also did a Yankee Gift Giving (and stealing) thing that was weird to me, but folks seemed to have fun with it. We chatted about cats and birds and squirrel-proof birdfeeders and weather and all sorts of stuff. And my mother had a big book giveaway — grab any of these two tables of books or they’re going to goodwill.  The cats surreptitiously fed bits of teats too. 

Mental illness, cancer, cats, secondhand books, bourbon balls for alcoholics. Strange Christmas party, yes. But nice. Nice to be understood or at least accepted.

This entry was posted on Monday, December 22nd, 2008 at 2:09 am and is filed under addiction, bipolar, days of a weird life. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.