"So I've only been a foster mom for a few weeks now, but it's true what they say:" "once you have a child, it stops being about you, and it's all about them." "Did you ever get that feeling, Mommy?" "There's just this one little thing she does that bothers the bejesus out of me." "I get that one all the time." "I've been following her on Instagram under the pseudonym "Ruby Peppers 647."" "She's constantly posting selfies with me in the background." "The other day, I had a mud mask on and I was eating a banana." "The next thing I know, I'm something called a meme." "Anyway, I'm really grateful for these meetings so I have somewhere to come and complain..." "I mean, share." "Thank you." "Would anyone else like to share?" " I need to." " Wow." "Ruby's really going to town on that banana." "That's years of practice." " Marjorie, alcoholic." " Hi, Marjorie." "I apologize for being late." "I don't even know where to start." "I'm just so upset." "My sponsor relapsed." "52 years she was sober." "This beautiful woman..." "who saved my life, been my rock ever since the day I walked into these rooms." "That she could just give up and..." "I'm sorry." "Oh, my God." "It's just awful." "Really?" "What I'm hearing is after 52 years of sobriety, we get to drink again." "Something terrible must have happened for her to start drinking again." "She getting divorced?" "Did someone die?" "Her neighbor cut down her hedge." "Sorry, what?" "There was a shared hedge between the houses, neighbor cut it down, she got loaded that night." "Help me out here." "Was the hedge made of gold?" "Everything I've done to stay sober," "I learned from her." "Then, in a second, she just threw it all away." "I mean, are we talking one of those hedges shaped like an elephant or something?" "I didn't see the damn hedge, Bonnie." "And that's called a topiary." "I always thought when I had a couple of decades under my belt," "I wouldn't even think about drinking anymore." "Good Lord, I have a lot of hedges." "Ladies." "It obviously wasn't about the hedge." "Yeah, guys." "Come on, pay attention." "You know what?" "I need to take a break from all this." "Maybe you guys can find someone else to talk to." " Excuse me." " Really?" " What are you saying?" " Oh, come on, Marjorie." "Who am I supposed to call?" "What am I supposed to do?" "I check in with her every day." "Me, too." "I run everything by her." "Okay." "I know where this is headed, and yes, you can all come to me with your problems." "Oh, God." "We're all gonna die." "Oh, stop taunting me!" "Look, Wendy, it's not your coworker's job to be your friend." "Calm down, take a deep breath in..." " What are you doing?" " Oh... we've got a cricket in the house, it's driving me crazy." "I told you, we need screens." "You're the building manager, put 'em in." "You know the procedure." "You need to submit a written request." "Ooh." "And exhale." "Okay." "Call me back when you stop feeling dizzy." "Wendy actually called you for guidance?" "I'll have you know, I have been putting out fires all day." "Jill, boom." "Mary, boom." "Wendy, boom." "The boom is the problem being solved." "You sure it's not the sound of their lives blowing up?" "In the meantime," "I'm really worried about Marjorie." "I've never seen her this upset." "She'll be fine." "And if she's not, she can call me, boom." " You want to help me find this thing?" " Sorry." "I'm Team Cricket." "Hey, Jill." "Mm-hmm." "Mm-hmm." "Okay, stop talking." "Let me tell you what I used to do when Christy was a teenager." "Wave at me through Plexiglas?" "Where are you, you bastard?" "Make it fast, Wendy, I'm working." "All the nurses in my unit are going out to lunch and they didn't invite me." "Did you consider that maybe they want to say nice things about you behind your back?" "Really?" "That's the best you got?" "I could tell you the truth, but you're too weak and neurotic to handle it." "Got to go, Jill's on the other line." "Hey, Money." "Bonnie, I am in crisis." "How can you be in crisis?" "We talked 20 minutes ago." "Emily just left for school and she was wearing a necktie." "Please do not tell me you're worried she's gay." "No!" "I'm just worried she's got no style and that reflects on me." "Jill, have you seen the way my daughter dresses?" "Yes, and I judge you for it." "Sorry, got to go." "Crybaby's back for more." "What?" "I just found out the lunch is a birthday party." "They didn't even ask me to sign the card." "All right." "You got to stop focusing on yourself." "Get out of your head." "Help someone else." "Who can I help?" "You're in an emergency room!" "Follow a trail of blood." "Uh..." "I got it!" "I got it, I got it!" " What?" " The cricket." "Open the door." "Just kill it." "No, that's bad karma." "I'm releasing it back into the wild." "Be free, little..." "Where'd it go?" "!" "I had it!" "How'd he do that?" "!" " Hi." " Ugh." "Back at ya." "We just came by to see how Marjorie's doing." "She's still sad." "Good-bye." "We blew 12 bucks on the plant." "We want to see the body, old man." "Thank you, good-bye." ""Let's not call, let's just show up."" "Who was that?" "Florist." "I bought you plant." "Oh..." "Mary, I know it looks like I'm checking my e-mail, but I'm listening, go ahead." "Okay." "My sister..." "Well, I call her my sister, but she's actually my mom." "All right, now I'm really listening." "It's weird being here without Marjorie." "I was really hoping she'd come tonight." "Yeah, me, too." "I'm not sure Bonnie knows what she's doing." "Oh, hear me and hear me well, she does not." "Oh, hello, cute, dark and sober." "Oh, God." "What's the matter?" "You know that guy?" "A long time ago." "So what?" "He's an old boyfriend?" "He's definitely not an old boyfriend." "I-I got to go." "We're not leaving here till you talk to us." "Oh, hell." "I'll stay here all night, I don't have any plans." "And we all know Wendy doesn't." "Hey." "Thank you." " What's going on?" " Yeah." "Who was that guy?" "Back when I was drinking, I was at this party, and... that guy showed up with some coke." "We went into a bedroom to do a few lines." "Next thing I know, he was on top of me, and..." "I was too messed up to fight him off." "That son of a bitch." "We know where he is." "We should call the police." "It was 16 years ago." "There's nothing they can do." "What did they do back then?" "I didn't report it." "It would have been his word against mine." "Who's gonna believe a drunk stripper?" "Thank you very much for ditching me." "Way to treat the woman who's been listening to your stupid problems all week." "What?" "Viceroy Lights was at the meeting." "Are you kidding me?" "Viceroy Lights?" "I never knew his name." "That's what he smoked." "He's at the meeting now?" "Tell me what he looks like." "I'll go rip his throat out." "No." "I just want to forget about it." "You guys know who he is?" "Sit down!" "I could just go back there and punch every guy in that room." "I'm sure they've all done something to deserve it." "Just drop it." "I wish Marjorie was here." "She'd know what to do." "Thank you, Wendy." "That's very hurtful." " Well, then, do you know what to do?" " There's nothing to do." "Honey, I think you got a cricket." " You doing all right?" " Yeah." " If you want to talk, I'm here." " Don't need to." "Okay." "Are you sure?" "I think you need to talk about it." "Mom, it was a long time ago." "I'm fine." "Yeah, but I wasn't there for you a long time ago." "Let me be here for you now." "You're here." "You're extremely here." " Let's go to sleep." " Going to sleep." "What about Marjorie?" "Would you talk to her?" "She asked not to be bothered, and unlike you, when someone tells me not to bother them," "I actually listen." "No, you don't, but that's all right." "What about a therapist?" "That's not a bad idea." "You should definitely see one." "Ah, you little minx." "You're collecting twos." " Mm, hang on, it's Christy." " Ugh." "Hey, sweetie." "What's up?" "Nothing." "Just wanted to check in, see how you're doing." "I'm okay." "Are you okay?" "Yeah, it's just..." "Eh, the usual." "Hate my job, hate my mom, my kids hate me..." "You know, circle of life." "Are you sure that's all?" "Yeah, I just miss you." "I miss you, too." "Did you like the plant we dropped off?" "Yes, thank you." "It's beautiful." "Okay." "Well, bye." "Bye, sweetie." "Why are you giving me stink eye?" "Oh, you are so dead." "Mary, I'm confused." "Your sister is your mother, and your brother's your uncle?" "Oh, he's just your brother." "Okay, got it." "So, which one needs the kidney?" "Oh, my God!" "I got to go." "What happened?" "I can't find the cricket." "Don't." "Don't touch me." "God, grant me the serenity to accept the things..." "Bonnie!" "What the hell are you doing?" "I didn't want to go through your Armenian bodyguard." "What's wrong?" "I need your help." "Christy is falling apart." "I don't know what to do." "Come on." "Throw your leg over the ledge, I'll help you out." " I'm not going out the window." " Yeah, you're right." "If you break a hip, you're no good to me." "I'll meet you at the car." "It doesn't matter how drunk you were." "What happened wasn't your fault." "But if I hadn't been drinking, it wouldn't have happened." " You don't know that." " Yeah, you don't know that." "Is this what you meant by, "I'll give you both some space"?" "Carry on." "If my life hadn't been such a train wreck," "I might have done something about it." "Honey, it's okay to look back at the past." "Just don't stare too long." "Good one." "I'm gonna use that with my sponsees." "Kind of rude." "You know, instead of kicking yourself for not taking action then, be grateful that you're sober now and you have a voice." "I really hate this disease." "Me, too." "Me, too." "That's right, I'm still here." "I know you're dealing with your own crap." "I'm sorry she dragged you over here." "Oh, don't worry about it." "Besides, I needed a break from Victor." "He means well, and I love him, but sometimes" "I feel like I'm living with a James Bond villain." "So, I was having a little family dinner, and my sister-mother shows up... with a rum cake." "So I said," ""You know I can't have that."" "So she said, "Why should the rest of us be penalized just because you can't control yourself?"" "So I said, "Screw you."" "And, well, things got physical." "I don't know how you put up with these people." "This one was probably calling me ten times a day." "Ten?" "After two," "I tell them to deal with it and hang up." "You can do that?" "Anyway, long story short, she took out a restraining order on me." "Imagine that." "Against her own sister-daughter." "Well, all right." "Thanks for letting me share." "It's nice to be in a room where none of this seems so weird." "Does anyone else want to share?" "I'll go." "Hi, I'm Christy, and I'm an alcoholic." "Hi, Christy." "I'm so nervous, I'm gonna say that part again." "Hi, I'm Christy, I'm an alcoholic." "Hi, Christy." "16 years ago, I was sexually assaulted." "You know what?" "Forget "sexually assaulted." I was raped." "That's the first time I've ever called it what it really was." "Mugging victims aren't ashamed they were robbed." "Why should I be ashamed I was raped?" "What I am ashamed of is that I kept it a secret." "This..." ""guy" counted on me being... too embarrassed and afraid to come forward, and you know what?" "He was right." "And so, tonight, I would like to make amends to any woman that might have been hurt because I was too scared to say anything." "If my silence encouraged him to believe that he could attack or intimidate or even grab another woman without consequences," "I am so, so sorry." "Maybe I can't change the past, but from now on, I am... going to speak out, shout out," "and shine a light down that can be seen from frickin' outer space, if it'll keep something like this from happening to anyone else." "Thank you." "Does anyone else want to share?" "I'm gonna tell you the same thing" "I tell my mom" " I wouldn't mind living with you if you made a little less noise." "Yeah, like you're a drive through wine country." "Okay, Jiminy." "Time to go on our separate journeys." "Jump, my little friend." "Be free." "Jump." "Why isn't he jumping?" "Maybe he got attached to me and doesn't want to leave." "Huh." "Or maybe you didn't put any holes in the jar and he's dead." "You really are a source of comfort and support." "And a cat just ate him."