Parenting is not for the faint of heart. These days – and it is happening more often these days – grandparents are standing in the parenting role. Let’s not overlook the aunts, uncles and other relatives who have stepped up to take care of children whose parents are unavailable to them for whatever reason.

Love begins with self. What does “loving yourself” really mean? It is being able to forgive yourself, to look deeper than the surface to find who you really are and to be the person you want to be. It is enjoying the opportunity of doing what you love rather than what someone else thinks you should do. To love yourself is understanding that everyone isn’t going to love you, but that’s OK. You don’t have to follow someone else’s yardstick for you. You have to love yourself, know who you are, before you can love others or they can love you, whether you have a substance abuse problem or not.

It’s reasonable to believe that most adults already have made up their minds about marijuana use. And it’s also safe to say that to educate them about the risks will elicit the response that we are using “scare tactics” to convince them and they aren’t interested. But we hope you will consider the information that we’re sharing today.

Every day there are women who make the decision to stop abusing substances. Most women who use illicit drugs don’t plan to become pregnant. They may not even know they are, and those early weeks of pregnancy are crucial as the baby’s organs are developing. However, when she is addicted to those harmful substances, quitting isn’t easy. A pregnancy at that time adds to the risks already in place.

Fleming House, the big, yellow house that love built in Columbiana County, has been aiding women in recovery for 15 years, providing a stable environment for them and their children for up to 18 months while the women develop individualized plans for their lives, obtain the education they need to realize their goals, and collect the life skills tools they need for the healthy recovery they desire, and participation in their communities.