Suzanne-- My daughter and I were at Starbucks on Fairview and I picked up the Independent and started reading it. I was so moved by your story. "Mom! What's wrong?" she said as she saw my tear-stained face and then she read your tribute and we both cried for Jake and for you and for ourselves too. We moved to Santa Barbara from Pickerington OH in 2001 and within a year our beautiful boy got involved with drugs & alcohol and began the downhill slide. Like you we tried everything we could think of: sending him away to a safer place, rehab, tough love, but the slide continues and he is now a shadow of his former self. We don't know what to do to wake him up to see what he's done with his talent, his future and all his opportunities so we do the best we can to take care of ourselves and each other while waiting for the next shoe to drop. For the most part we are able to go on with our lives but every now and then something like your article breaks through the veneer and reminds us of the underlying sadness and hopelessness we have come to live with. The article did wake me up to talk about possibilities: another course of rehab? an intervention? an appointment with the family counselor? a call to our company's EAP? Our son is still alive and we are readying ourselves to reach out to him one more time. Thank you for sharing your story.
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Posted on May 18 at 1:54 p.m.
Suzanne-- My daughter and I were at Starbucks on Fairview and I picked up the Independent and started reading it. I was so moved by your story. "Mom! What's wrong?" she said as she saw my tear-stained face and then she read your tribute and we both cried for Jake and for you and for ourselves too. We moved to Santa Barbara from Pickerington OH in 2001 and within a year our beautiful boy got involved with drugs & alcohol and began the downhill slide. Like you we tried everything we could think of: sending him away to a safer place, rehab, tough love, but the slide continues and he is now a shadow of his former self. We don't know what to do to wake him up to see what he's done with his talent, his future and all his opportunities so we do the best we can to take care of ourselves and each other while waiting for the next shoe to drop. For the most part we are able to go on with our lives but every now and then something like your article breaks through the veneer and reminds us of the underlying sadness and hopelessness we have come to live with. The article did wake me up to talk about possibilities: another course of rehab? an intervention? an appointment with the family counselor? a call to our company's EAP? Our son is still alive and we are readying ourselves to reach out to him one more time. Thank you for sharing your story.
On Jacob Snyder 1980-2008