About the book...
In her memoir, "Gorwing Up Old: Child of An Addict," Melissa shares her journey and self-discovery of her power to break free from the cycle of addiction in her family. This eye-opening book about drug and alcohol addiction in a middle class family, was released nationwide in April 2016.
She shares very personal accounts of memories and feelings about her mother-daughter relationship, as she grew up in the midst of her mother’s destructive, long-term and progressive addiction to alcohol and opiates.
She shares her journey in an effort to help others understand the things that took her decades to learn: an addicts’ actions are not personal, addiction is a disease, genetic addiction can be stopped, and addiction impacts 1 in 3 people.
(1) Loving an addict is difficult and often full of pain, but it’s important to understand that his/her actions are not personal;
(2) Addiction is a disease. Much like a person with diabetes cannot just stop being a diabetic, a person with an addiction cannot just stop being an addict. It is a disease that requires constant vigilance and treatment to stay healthy;
(3) Science has demonstrated that addiction alters the brain and this altered state can get passed on to a future generation. Likewise, if the addiction is never fueled, the brain can heal from generation to generation decreasing the genetic predisposition to addiction.
(4) Not all addicts match the image of a coke addict shooting up in an abandoned house; Rather, most addicts exist with an undetected addiction for years.
Do you ever think about how you became you? I mean the whole you all wrapped up in a bow? Why you cry or laugh; what makes you angry; or why certain smells or sounds give you a feeling? There is a lot to this wondering, and sometimes taking a look at it can help you understand the good, the bad, and the ugly you. You cannot undo the past, but I do believe that you alone decide which pieces of it are allowed to shape you forever. Growing Up Old is a journey through the memories of a child, whose mother is an addict, as she struggles to become her own person, to make sense of reality, and worries about her role as a daughter in God's eyes. She realizes she has been shaped by her childhood experiences and fears becoming her mother, only to realize her own power to break the cycle.