"Those individuals in our path and along our journey through addiction recovery were just like the channel sticks floating in my river, ensuring that we didn't run aground while navigating all the pitfalls of this disease. They were instrumental in guiding us and lifting our spirits to go on one more day."

The sun is bright this morning, laying low in the February sky. Bitterly cold, a perfect day to reflect while peering through the back slider of our cape cod style home. For many, this would bring heartache and sorrow due to the loss of a loved one. For me, it brings mixed emotions, as today, I offer our story, seven years in the making. "The BenAddiction" is a book about hope, about love, about a community's desire to save a young man's life tied to addiction. Through the seven year journey, an amazing story unfolds, including the gifts and blessings bestowed upon a family and a community reeling from loss. It speaks about a Perfect Storm, when Opiate Addiction and Cancer collide to create a concoction of formidable human resolve. It speaks to the heart through raw emotions. It talks of God's grace and morphs from a story critical of addicts and perfused with warnings to stay clear, to one that begs that we engage in this life's most difficult challenges, only to find life's most precious gifts in the end.