My son, Danny made a presentation to Parent Group last night. He came about a year ago and talked about his drug use, how he felt about it now, what he thought about Parent Group now. His themes this year were similar. He's an excellent speaker, articulate, poised. Others in the organization describe him as dynamic and engaging; one person from another group recommended him as a speaker said his talk was riveting.
Last week, I asked those in attendance to write questions for Danny, that this would help him. Parents always want to help and, given the Changes philosophy regarding acting out teens and young adults, they don't get to do it as much as they like. 21 parents responded. Last weekend I dropped them off on our way out of town. Yesterday, he called me and said that he wanted to write answers to all of them. "If they went to the trouble of writing the question, I should answer it" and he started to write. He wrote an hour before work and an hour after. He delivered the answers to Dennis for formatting and production around 5pm. Dennis had to work the formatting and produce about 40 copies in time to leave around 6:10. He did. First draft, around 4500 words, 4 sides single spaced small type. "This is pretty interesting, doing this" he mused.
We expected a large turnout and were not disappointed. About 55 total. Picture shows Danny and one side of the room. Along with an extreme closeup of the back of Henry's head. Behind the main group are 3 members of my original team.
It's an easy crowd. The parents really really love hearing a success story. They really want to think that their kid will not hate them in the end if they take a stand.
Think about it...how many opportunities do you have as an adult (young or otherwise) to get up in front of an established group and get a standing ovation and tons of positive comments by getting up and talking about your experiences.
Lots of possible positive outcomes for Danny out of this. And so ironic in a wonderful way. Truth is stranger than fiction.
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