allforcnm

We were at home earlier tonight; things were busy as usual with getting dinner ready, our son playing with his furry animal friends causing joyous chaos in the house. And then I couldn’t help but notice my husband kept going back and forth to the garage. He had brought everything in for the night, so it seemed odd but I didn’t say anything. He would stay out there a while - also odd. Finally on one of his return visits I asked what he was doing. He was a little vague but something about working on the car. He looked agitated, went off to another room.

I couldn’t help it - thoughts of stories I have seen here on SR hit me with people posting about suspicious behavior when someone is using and hiding it. So I let my mind go there for a few minutes. Scary with my son playing there in the floor. He went back out there again, and after a few minutes I decided enough was enough I was going to see what was going on. He is out there with the back door open and he is just standing there staring inside the car. Totally disturbed when I came out. I walk over and look inside & the poor guy had carried home a big block of dry ice (needed for a party we are having tomorrow), the ice had been all wrapped in thick paper – But he didn’t think and laid it directly on the backseat. There was this huge indentation about 2” deep where the ice had sat. He was out there in horror afraid to tell me. So now we are both standing there staring at the seat with no idea what to do. Finally, we had to go back into the house because of our son. We decided to deal with it later, thoughts of does insurance cover this? So we eat dinner, do some play time with our son; few hours later we go back out to see if the leather has cracked or if it somehow got worse – and its gone ! No sign anything happened.

We both had a really good laugh. It just goes to show however, thoughts of relapse are not that far removed even when things have been going well and there is no sign of trouble. Fortunately this time around we both just have a funny story to tell.

Ann

I'm glad this worked out for you, and for him too. If the worse that happened was a dent in the seat, no biggy. The garage can be a scary place when it comes to recovery and watching it.

sojourner

Ann - you are so right and I never thought about it. We always talk about how one of the red flags of relapse is our loved one going to buy milk and not coming back for a while or a host of other behaviors. But that's right - the GARAGE! Too many trips to the garage!

HopefulmomtoD

Oh phew. I was getting stressed just reading it- so happy it all worked out.

allforcnm

I don't suggest trying it, but it was the weirdest thing seeing this 8x8" crater in the middle of the seat. I understand why he couldn't stop stating at it- but his mind was also trying to do damage control, and he said he had figured out the fibers in the cushioning might only be compressed due to the extreme cold, might possibly bounce back at least part way- but he thought the leather was damaged. So once he came in to look for leather balm and couldn't find any, then he tried to search online for what to do on another trip in, then he thought maybe a hair dryer would help warm it up and then remembered the seat has warmers and turned those on (we rarely ever use because its hot where we live) and also considered lathering up the seat with one of many options: baby oil, coconut butter crème, olive oil, and one of my face creams! When he told me all that I just laughed so hard. I could see going back later and it's all bounced back, but now the seat is covered with various types of Oils and Butters....all warm and fragrant from being heated up....

In retrospect we didn't have a harsh word over it, not even when we thought maybe the seat was destroyed. We went inside to keep our son on his schedule and put all the worry aside. Like Ann said, at the end of the day it's just an object. One thing going through his addiction has taught us -the value of personal relationships, and of family.

Another thing I know- if I had carried the ice, I probably would have plopped it down on the seat too, but I would have ran in the house with an initial horrified reaction of OMG come see ! Where he was horrified but went into fixer mode... he loves that car and maybe is a bit codependent on it? lol