WEBVTT - #65 Meredith 0:00:15.210 --> 0:00:21.610 Pushkin. We have quite a story for you today, But 0:00:21.730 --> 0:00:26.130 before we begin, a warning. This episode contains themes of 0:00:26.210 --> 0:00:39.050 drug use. Listener discretion is advised. Yeah. Oh, finally, I 0:00:39.090 --> 0:00:42.730 wanted to tell you about my billboard in Times Square. 0:00:43.409 --> 0:00:47.929 Oh wow, you're jelly. You want to billboard too? 0:00:47.010 --> 0:00:49.889 I feel like you like it. 0:00:50.650 --> 0:00:51.850 What gives you that impression? 0:00:52.010 --> 0:00:54.970 Your relationship with being you know, famous, I'm sure is 0:00:55.170 --> 0:00:56.450 something as an artist that you use. 0:00:56.530 --> 0:00:58.010 Wait, hang on a second. Did you just say that 0:00:58.090 --> 0:01:02.810 I was famous? It sounds like you did and something 0:01:02.810 --> 0:01:03.330 of an artist? 0:01:03.410 --> 0:01:04.250 I said, you. 0:01:04.370 --> 0:01:06.850 Wanting to be famous and your relationships are wanting to 0:01:06.890 --> 0:01:07.650 be famous? 0:01:07.810 --> 0:01:08.890 Do you remember you? 0:01:09.850 --> 0:01:10.530 Are you recording? 0:01:10.650 --> 0:01:14.090 Because I said, do you remember asking? I'm recording you 0:01:14.170 --> 0:01:14.850 in my memory? 0:01:15.810 --> 0:01:17.130 Am I going to hear this on the radio? 0:01:17.250 --> 0:01:19.729 You're definitely not going to hear this on the radio. 0:01:20.890 --> 0:01:23.610 Oh yeah, Actually just got a radio the podcast, right? 0:01:23.810 --> 0:01:29.610 You know that I do a podcast? Am I on speakerphone? 0:01:29.930 --> 0:01:30.850 No? 0:01:31.050 --> 0:01:33.050 Because you know when you put someone on speakerphone, you're 0:01:33.050 --> 0:01:45.770 supposed to tell them From Pushkin Industries, I'm Jonathan Goldstein 0:01:46.010 --> 0:01:56.730 and this is Heavyweight Today's episode, Meredith. Right after the break, 0:02:06.210 --> 0:02:09.810 I consider myself a fair person. If a plumber enters 0:02:09.850 --> 0:02:13.130 my home, I offer him or her a cup of 0:02:13.169 --> 0:02:17.170 coffee when presented with a bowl of restaurant mints, even 0:02:17.210 --> 0:02:20.090 when unobserved, I make sure to leave a few for 0:02:20.130 --> 0:02:23.090 the next guy. And if you have the good fortune 0:02:23.090 --> 0:02:26.050 of eating tapas with me, you should know right now 0:02:26.450 --> 0:02:30.169 you'll be eating at least half the plate. So in Meredith, 0:02:30.450 --> 0:02:33.210 a fellow Minnesotan, asked me to weigh in on a 0:02:33.210 --> 0:02:39.530 matter of fairness. I was raring to go. And so 0:02:39.650 --> 0:02:42.290 it is on a sunny day in late March that 0:02:42.370 --> 0:02:47.850 I find myself pulling up to Meredith's Hi. Yes it 0:02:47.930 --> 0:02:52.370 is hello. Nice to me, Hi. Meredith ushers me inside. 0:02:52.890 --> 0:02:54.130 I thought you'd have like bigger hair. 0:02:54.370 --> 0:02:55.050 I have no hair? 0:02:55.250 --> 0:02:56.690 Really? Has it always been that way? 0:02:57.490 --> 0:03:04.410 Have I been? I was born bald. Yeah. As Meredith 0:03:04.410 --> 0:03:08.890 acclimatizes herself to my unexpected baldness, we settle in. 0:03:09.170 --> 0:03:10.370 Okay, I'm got to get some coffee. 0:03:10.730 --> 0:03:11.850 Have I gotta have cup? 0:03:12.170 --> 0:03:14.450 How much coffee have you had today? 0:03:14.450 --> 0:03:15.090 Can you tell? 0:03:16.730 --> 0:03:19.330 Meredith fetches her fourth cup this morning, and I have 0:03:19.370 --> 0:03:22.650 a look around. She just moved in here three months ago, 0:03:23.090 --> 0:03:25.530 but the house is already feeling homie. You have a 0:03:25.610 --> 0:03:28.970 quote from the Dali Lama on the This was a. 0:03:28.970 --> 0:03:34.049 Gift to me from my Gallantines party. There are only 0:03:34.090 --> 0:03:36.210 two days in the year that nothing can be done. 0:03:36.690 --> 0:03:39.370 One is called yesterday and the other is called tomorrow. 0:03:39.770 --> 0:03:42.610 So today is the right day to love, believe, do, 0:03:42.850 --> 0:03:45.250 and mostly live well. 0:03:45.410 --> 0:03:48.170 No offense to the Dali Lama, but I've built a 0:03:48.210 --> 0:03:51.490 career on the idea that something can be done yesterday, 0:03:52.130 --> 0:03:55.810 or at least about yesterday. And so I have Meredith 0:03:55.970 --> 0:03:59.650 tell me about her past misfortune, which all began, she says, 0:04:00.010 --> 0:04:02.290 three years ago on a Saturday morning. 0:04:02.810 --> 0:04:06.610 You have to understand that a I'm a sweet tooth, okay. 0:04:07.010 --> 0:04:10.370 And the second really important piece of information is that 0:04:10.410 --> 0:04:13.010 my sister in law owned a candy store. 0:04:13.690 --> 0:04:16.770 This sister in law routinely sent boxes of candy to 0:04:16.849 --> 0:04:20.729 Meredith's three children, and because of the whole sweet tooth thing, 0:04:21.170 --> 0:04:23.489 Meredith would tell her kids to keep the candy in 0:04:23.529 --> 0:04:26.849 their room. That way, she'd only have access when she 0:04:26.969 --> 0:04:30.529 was in their rooms tidying up. The agreement even had 0:04:30.529 --> 0:04:30.930 a name. 0:04:31.650 --> 0:04:33.930 I would take what I would call the candy tacks 0:04:34.849 --> 0:04:38.210 as a price of me helping them clean up their room. 0:04:38.729 --> 0:04:41.169 And cleaning up is what Meredith was doing on the 0:04:41.169 --> 0:04:45.570 Saturday morning in question. She was in Aidan's bedroom. Aidan 0:04:45.770 --> 0:04:49.050 is her son seventeen at the time, and Meredith was 0:04:49.130 --> 0:04:52.010 hunting for his leftover cereal bulls. 0:04:51.690 --> 0:04:56.569 When I saw on the table some peach rings, you know, 0:04:56.609 --> 0:04:58.689 those like little chewy gummy candy. 0:04:58.810 --> 0:05:00.249 I know them well right, They're. 0:05:00.049 --> 0:05:04.289 Really tasty, and I shoved them in my mouth like 0:05:04.690 --> 0:05:05.450 num num numb. 0:05:06.089 --> 0:05:10.330 Meredith finished Aiden's entire bag of peach rings candy tacks. 0:05:10.890 --> 0:05:13.529 From there, she moved on to her daughter's room to 0:05:13.609 --> 0:05:15.089 continue cleaning. 0:05:15.049 --> 0:05:19.210 And it was about thirty minutes later when I started 0:05:19.250 --> 0:05:21.529 to feel a little bit, you know, like a little 0:05:21.570 --> 0:05:23.130 bit oh, something's not quite right. 0:05:24.089 --> 0:05:28.489 At that moment, a thought popped into Meredith's mind. What 0:05:28.570 --> 0:05:31.289 if the peach rings weren't just peach rings? 0:05:32.650 --> 0:05:36.049 Maybe a small detail. Most times peach rings look like 0:05:36.130 --> 0:05:41.049 orange and white. These were purple and blue. But I 0:05:41.089 --> 0:05:43.529 didn't think anything of it other than, oh, it must 0:05:43.570 --> 0:05:45.689 be a different version of peach rings. 0:05:45.729 --> 0:05:47.089 Maybe they're flavored blueberry. 0:05:47.770 --> 0:05:52.489 Sure, those blueberry flavored peach rings. Then there was also 0:05:52.609 --> 0:05:54.889 where she'd found the blueberry flavored peach. 0:05:54.770 --> 0:05:56.649 Rings in a ziploc bag. 0:05:57.289 --> 0:05:58.930 They don't usually come in a zip block. 0:06:00.130 --> 0:06:01.690 They don't usually come in a ziplock. 0:06:01.890 --> 0:06:05.369 How big was the ziploc bag? Like those little like 0:06:05.409 --> 0:06:06.650 the kind you would put drugs in. 0:06:06.849 --> 0:06:08.929 No, Jonathan, the kind you put a sandwich in. 0:06:12.650 --> 0:06:15.010 Meredith just thought Aiden had put the gummies in a 0:06:15.130 --> 0:06:19.770 ziploc to, you know, preserve freshness. But now, as her 0:06:19.810 --> 0:06:22.529 head began to swim, she thought a new thought. 0:06:23.089 --> 0:06:24.849 And in the moment of time it took me to 0:06:24.890 --> 0:06:29.410 think that thought. My knees buckled. I dropped on all 0:06:29.409 --> 0:06:32.729 fours because whatever was coming for me hit me like 0:06:32.770 --> 0:06:34.330 a freight train, a. 0:06:34.289 --> 0:06:37.890 Freight train freighted with box car after box car of 0:06:37.969 --> 0:06:43.529 gelatinous marijuana. 0:06:44.289 --> 0:06:47.529 My son comes running up the stairs and I yelled 0:06:47.529 --> 0:06:52.169 to him what was in those gummies? All he says 0:06:52.289 --> 0:06:56.169 is what were you doing in my room? I then 0:06:56.250 --> 0:07:01.849 say what was in those gummies? He says how many 0:07:01.890 --> 0:07:04.570 did you eat? And I was a member trembling. I 0:07:04.609 --> 0:07:09.050 was said all of them? How much was in those? 0:07:10.369 --> 0:07:13.290 He's like, mom, twenty five milligrams each. 0:07:15.290 --> 0:07:19.930 Meredith had eaten four peach gummies. That is one hundred 0:07:19.970 --> 0:07:21.369 milligrams of weed. 0:07:23.450 --> 0:07:26.129 I'm the person that takes the gummy that somebody gives 0:07:26.130 --> 0:07:28.930 you at five and starts shaving it down. 0:07:29.730 --> 0:07:32.450 So I knew, like two and a half is my limit. 0:07:33.130 --> 0:07:36.369 She'd ingested forty times her limit. 0:07:36.610 --> 0:07:39.809 And then I start yelling, well, you just killed your mother. 0:07:43.330 --> 0:07:47.650 The next several hours I can't only describe as kind 0:07:47.650 --> 0:07:51.809 of coming floating in and out of consciousness. I mean 0:07:52.090 --> 0:07:56.010 I have moments of sort of dream like I was 0:07:56.050 --> 0:07:58.890 in a forest running and then the tree roots started 0:07:58.890 --> 0:08:01.050 coming up and grapping around my legs. 0:08:01.090 --> 0:08:01.890 I mean, that's not fun. 0:08:02.330 --> 0:08:04.370 Trees twist around your legs and are trying to like 0:08:04.410 --> 0:08:06.290 suck you down to the earth, Like what is that? 0:08:08.250 --> 0:08:10.809 Meredith didn't if she needed to go to the hospital. 0:08:11.250 --> 0:08:13.770 She wondered if she would die. She phoned a few 0:08:13.770 --> 0:08:16.130 friends to ask them to check up on her throughout 0:08:16.130 --> 0:08:16.689 the day. 0:08:16.890 --> 0:08:18.650 You know, by like boy style. 0:08:18.489 --> 0:08:22.410 Because you weren't even capable of using the regular dialing. 0:08:22.650 --> 0:08:26.970 Jonathan, I couldn't move my fingers enough to get the 0:08:27.050 --> 0:08:35.450 right buttons. It's like laying there with a piano on. 0:08:35.330 --> 0:08:47.810 You, her friends later told her. She kept repeating things 0:08:47.890 --> 0:08:52.050 like am I going to be okay? And God helped me? 0:08:53.130 --> 0:08:56.770 All in all, twenty three hours. 0:08:57.210 --> 0:08:59.650 Oh my god, that's like longer than labor. 0:09:00.490 --> 0:09:05.250 It felt, it felt in some ways eternal. 0:09:06.570 --> 0:09:10.050 Sometime around ten am the next morning, Meredith finally began 0:09:10.130 --> 0:09:13.570 to feel herself coming down, and with that the anger 0:09:13.650 --> 0:09:18.090 set in. Anger at her seventeen year old son, aidan. 0:09:18.370 --> 0:09:20.450 Well, now we got to deal with the problem. 0:09:20.610 --> 0:09:22.450 You didn't know that he kept drugs in the house. 0:09:22.890 --> 0:09:23.810 No, I did not know. 0:09:24.690 --> 0:09:28.090 Meredith says she'd always had open conversations with her kids 0:09:28.130 --> 0:09:30.890 about drugs and alcohol, but for the kids to keep 0:09:30.970 --> 0:09:33.810 drugs in the house was not allowed. And on top 0:09:33.850 --> 0:09:36.410 of that, leaving them out in the open when he 0:09:36.490 --> 0:09:39.290 knew about the candy tacks, how could Aiden have been 0:09:39.290 --> 0:09:43.210 so careless? And what made it all the more upsetting, Well, 0:09:43.290 --> 0:09:44.890 Meredith was on all fours. 0:09:45.290 --> 0:09:48.370 Aiden flees, He's like, I got to go to work, 0:09:49.450 --> 0:09:53.330 and I'm just left here having to somewhat fend for myself. 0:09:53.850 --> 0:09:56.250 Was a part of you proud that you had raised 0:09:56.250 --> 0:09:59.929 a son who honored his work responsibilities. 0:10:00.210 --> 0:10:04.250 He was so committed to his work at Piepchang's that 0:10:04.530 --> 0:10:06.890 his mom took the back burner. 0:10:09.890 --> 0:10:11.330 You know, I probably did writ as a kid with 0:10:11.370 --> 0:10:12.770 a good work ethic. I'll give him that. 0:10:13.650 --> 0:10:16.970 But here's the thing that three years later, Meredith still 0:10:17.010 --> 0:10:22.690 can't get over. Aidan refused to apologize. Instead, over and 0:10:22.730 --> 0:10:25.330 over he uttered the same refrain. 0:10:25.290 --> 0:10:26.210 This is not my fault. 0:10:26.650 --> 0:10:28.290 Aidan felt like this was on you. 0:10:29.210 --> 0:10:33.250 Aiden one hundred percent felt this was on me, and 0:10:33.290 --> 0:10:37.210 that no other parent would be that clueless. 0:10:38.570 --> 0:10:41.490 Meredith admits she is the sort of person who often 0:10:41.530 --> 0:10:43.890 gets herself into these kinds of noodles. 0:10:44.290 --> 0:10:45.690 Oh, I've got a feel. 0:10:46.170 --> 0:10:51.170 I rescued a stray dog that was loose from a yard. 0:10:52.090 --> 0:10:56.250 What happened was Meredith's dog was routinely escaping her yard, 0:10:56.570 --> 0:10:59.010 and people around the area would post about it on 0:10:59.130 --> 0:11:03.130 next door, writing comments like who can't control their dog? 0:11:03.690 --> 0:11:08.970 And Meredith, your dog is out again. She felt publicly shamed, 0:11:09.650 --> 0:11:12.850 and so when she saw someone else's dog that was lost, 0:11:13.250 --> 0:11:15.770 it felt like a chance to reclaim the respect of 0:11:15.810 --> 0:11:17.330 her neighbors. 0:11:17.370 --> 0:11:19.170 And I proceeded to pick it up. 0:11:19.530 --> 0:11:22.130 You know, it was a portybound dog, and I took 0:11:22.170 --> 0:11:23.929 it and really thought that. 0:11:23.890 --> 0:11:24.850 I was doing a good deed. 0:11:30.410 --> 0:11:35.130 As Meredith started walking home, the dog started jolting spasms 0:11:35.130 --> 0:11:39.650 of gratitude. Perhaps she got the dog home safely, made 0:11:39.650 --> 0:11:43.890 a post and waited. Finally the owner showed up. 0:11:44.210 --> 0:11:47.330 And I was expecting to be met with like, oh, 0:11:47.370 --> 0:11:49.610 I'm so happy that you got my dog. 0:11:49.650 --> 0:11:51.010 I've been worried sick about it. 0:11:52.330 --> 0:11:59.650 Well, it turns out that I had taken a dog 0:12:00.330 --> 0:12:03.370 from a home that had an invisible fence. 0:12:03.570 --> 0:12:04.970 Oh that's why it was jolting. 0:12:05.170 --> 0:12:09.290 Yes, it was jolting. Yes, And instead it was cause 0:12:10.250 --> 0:12:14.050 you took my dog from our yard and you shocked 0:12:14.090 --> 0:12:17.250 it and thinks. 0:12:17.130 --> 0:12:18.210 Is this why you had to move? 0:12:19.490 --> 0:12:21.170 It's probably a consideration. 0:12:27.490 --> 0:12:30.450 As for the drugging, However, Meredith doesn't think it was 0:12:30.490 --> 0:12:31.170 all her fault. 0:12:31.850 --> 0:12:33.690 This could happen to any of us. 0:12:34.090 --> 0:12:37.770 I even googled, like looking for validation of like, oh, 0:12:37.850 --> 0:12:39.490 this happens all the time, right. 0:12:40.250 --> 0:12:44.370 Sadly, Meredith didn't find the validation. She was looking for. 0:12:44.530 --> 0:12:45.810 A lot more stories about dogs. 0:12:46.490 --> 0:12:49.010 But you know what, I think this has probably happened 0:12:49.610 --> 0:12:51.770 to a lot more people. But there's maybe they're harboring 0:12:51.810 --> 0:12:53.810 some sense of shame about it. 0:12:53.970 --> 0:12:55.929 You're just not talking about it. 0:12:55.970 --> 0:12:58.130 If it happened to you, you are not alone. 0:12:58.690 --> 0:13:03.730 If it could happen to you, beware, Okay, maybe assess 0:13:03.810 --> 0:13:04.930 the color of the gummies. 0:13:04.930 --> 0:13:07.210 Maybe assessorry to interrupt, but who do you think you're 0:13:07.250 --> 0:13:08.290 talking to right now? 0:13:09.450 --> 0:13:14.850 Parents like me that wouldn't think their kid would have 0:13:15.250 --> 0:13:19.690 gummy candy in their room. 0:13:19.890 --> 0:13:22.610 The thing about people like Meredith, people who can laugh 0:13:22.650 --> 0:13:24.930 at themselves, is that it can be hard to know 0:13:25.090 --> 0:13:28.330 when they need to be taken seriously. Beredith can joke 0:13:28.370 --> 0:13:31.010 about the gummies, but it doesn't mean it wasn't scary 0:13:31.050 --> 0:13:34.130 at the time, or that she doesn't want some acknowledgment 0:13:34.290 --> 0:13:34.810 from Aiden. 0:13:35.370 --> 0:13:37.970 I keep waiting for this moment. 0:13:38.730 --> 0:13:42.610 When he comes through the door, he says, Mom, I've 0:13:42.650 --> 0:13:45.810 been reflecting a lot, and I thought about that time 0:13:45.850 --> 0:13:49.530 when this happened, and I just want to say I 0:13:49.610 --> 0:13:50.010 get it. 0:13:50.050 --> 0:13:53.290 I'm sorry because he never apologized. 0:13:54.450 --> 0:13:55.650 He's never apologized. 0:13:55.850 --> 0:13:58.370 Ironically, of my three kids, he is probably the most 0:13:58.410 --> 0:14:02.370 sensitive in terms of care and concern, so it was 0:14:02.410 --> 0:14:09.010 somewhat surprising to me that he could dismiss that experience 0:14:09.610 --> 0:14:10.410 so flippantly. 0:14:13.690 --> 0:14:16.690 Meredith has tried to draw the apology out, bringing it 0:14:16.810 --> 0:14:19.850 up once or twice a year. She tells herself it's 0:14:19.850 --> 0:14:23.810 an important teachable moment. She tells herself that Aidan's refusal 0:14:23.850 --> 0:14:28.490 to apologize reflects poorly on her parenting, so she keeps nujinghim, 0:14:28.970 --> 0:14:31.530 most recently in a canoe. 0:14:31.330 --> 0:14:32.050 Just the two of us. 0:14:32.690 --> 0:14:38.450 There was no escaping, and I went so far as negotiation, okay. 0:14:38.930 --> 0:14:40.050 I started at fifty to. 0:14:40.050 --> 0:14:44.970 Fifty, meaning percent of blame, fifty percent on her, fifty 0:14:45.010 --> 0:14:49.050 percent on Aiden. Aiden is an econ and computer science major, 0:14:49.330 --> 0:14:51.530 and Meredith was trying to speak his language. 0:14:51.810 --> 0:14:55.570 I went down to eighty twenty okay, twenty percent on him, 0:14:55.850 --> 0:14:56.890 twenty percent on him. 0:14:57.330 --> 0:14:59.010 You wouldn't accept that, would not accept that. 0:14:59.890 --> 0:15:01.770 At this point, I was like, well, now what do 0:15:01.810 --> 0:15:02.930 I have to lose? I went all the way down 0:15:02.930 --> 0:15:06.010 to ninety nine to one. I'm looking for a shrapnel 0:15:06.530 --> 0:15:08.690 okay of accountability, but. 0:15:08.730 --> 0:15:17.050 She had hasn't even gotten that. For three years, Meredith 0:15:17.050 --> 0:15:19.450 and Aiden have been at a stalemate in terms of 0:15:19.530 --> 0:15:22.810 who should be held accountable. It keeps popping up and 0:15:22.850 --> 0:15:27.090 nothing gets settled. Meredith has tried recruiting friends to adjudicate, 0:15:27.450 --> 0:15:30.610 but Aiden has always questioned their impartiality. 0:15:30.850 --> 0:15:36.890 So I thought a real, independent, objective third party might 0:15:37.010 --> 0:15:42.210 be the ticket to finding our path here, someone that 0:15:42.290 --> 0:15:46.690 could see both sides and talk empathetically with my son 0:15:47.050 --> 0:15:48.570 about accountability. 0:15:49.290 --> 0:15:50.730 Do you think it's something you could be able to, 0:15:50.770 --> 0:15:51.250 like broke her. 0:15:52.490 --> 0:15:55.450 While we're all familiar with the idea of a claim adjuster, 0:15:56.050 --> 0:15:59.690 what Meredith needs is a blame adjuster, someone who can 0:15:59.730 --> 0:16:03.610 adjust some blame onto her son and make him apologize. 0:16:04.650 --> 0:16:08.410 I accept the job, beg forgiveness once more for my baldness, 0:16:08.770 --> 0:16:12.850 and myself to leave when you want to take it. Yeah, 0:16:13.010 --> 0:16:18.570 Meredith's phone rings. Hey, Hey, on the phone is Meredith's 0:16:18.570 --> 0:16:19.970 eldest daughter, Quinn. 0:16:20.210 --> 0:16:21.250 I'm here with Jonathan. 0:16:21.930 --> 0:16:22.130 Hi. 0:16:22.650 --> 0:16:22.970 Hello. 0:16:23.970 --> 0:16:26.930 The Quinn was out of town during the weed dosing catastrophe. 0:16:27.330 --> 0:16:33.050 She remembers it. Well, oh, right, as long as we 0:16:33.130 --> 0:16:35.330 have her on the line, I asked Quinn if there's 0:16:35.370 --> 0:16:39.450 anything more I should know about. Quinn pauses, then asks 0:16:39.490 --> 0:16:42.530 her mother a question, was this before or after your 0:16:42.570 --> 0:16:43.610 airplane incident? 0:16:44.170 --> 0:16:44.370 Oh? 0:16:44.370 --> 0:16:46.810 My god, Quinn, the airplane incident? 0:16:47.210 --> 0:16:52.930 What's the airplane incident? Enter Exhibit B the airplane incident. 0:16:57.530 --> 0:16:59.410 I'd need to have my side of the story on 0:16:59.450 --> 0:17:02.410 this because there's some definite biases from my mom. 0:17:03.050 --> 0:17:06.649 This is Meredith's son Aiden, and when I phone him 0:17:06.730 --> 0:17:09.530 up at college, he tells me that the gummy incident 0:17:09.889 --> 0:17:13.010 is only one of two accidental druggings in this family. 0:17:13.649 --> 0:17:16.090 My mom was on a business trip out to the 0:17:16.209 --> 0:17:18.929 UK and Scotland, and then as a birthday present I 0:17:18.929 --> 0:17:19.890 had just gotten to go with. 0:17:20.649 --> 0:17:23.609 Three months after the weed gummies, Aidan went on a 0:17:23.649 --> 0:17:26.889 trip with his mom. They were in the Amsterdam airport 0:17:27.169 --> 0:17:30.409 about to board the nine hour flight back home to Minneapolis. 0:17:30.850 --> 0:17:32.810 I knew she had like some sort of like sleeping 0:17:33.129 --> 0:17:35.369 aid and I was like, oh, maybe I could like 0:17:35.409 --> 0:17:36.889 have some for the flight. 0:17:37.449 --> 0:17:41.090 Aiden's about twice Meredith size, so when he asked, she 0:17:41.129 --> 0:17:43.249 figured it couldn't hurt to give him half of what 0:17:43.330 --> 0:17:44.250 she normally took. 0:17:44.689 --> 0:17:47.769 And then I just remember like being in the Amsterdam 0:17:47.770 --> 0:17:50.969 airport and I was like, man, I feel really gross right, 0:17:51.010 --> 0:17:52.449 and like I felt like pretty nauseous. 0:17:53.010 --> 0:17:56.609 When boarding started, Aiden was having a hard time standing straight. 0:17:57.090 --> 0:17:59.009 Like right as I hand them my passport and ticket, 0:17:59.129 --> 0:18:01.529 I just completely pass out. 0:18:03.129 --> 0:18:06.250 He's behind me, and then I hear a crash as 0:18:06.290 --> 0:18:08.970 Aiden has collapsed into the stanchion. 0:18:09.409 --> 0:18:12.250 Basically what I remember was kind of just like half consciousness. 0:18:12.250 --> 0:18:13.530 She had just like kind of grabbed me by the 0:18:13.570 --> 0:18:15.649 shoulders and she was like, we need to get it together. 0:18:15.649 --> 0:18:16.530 You need to get on this flight. 0:18:16.889 --> 0:18:17.570 He look at me. 0:18:18.050 --> 0:18:21.450 They're like, there's no way you are going on displight 0:18:22.330 --> 0:18:25.729 and you need to go to medical emergency or whatever. 0:18:26.449 --> 0:18:29.050 And I remember they like ran tests and like kind 0:18:29.050 --> 0:18:33.210 of contact, like poison control. 0:18:35.570 --> 0:18:40.570 Just like Meredith. Aiden was fine eventually, but also like Meredith, 0:18:40.850 --> 0:18:45.570 Aiden was disappointed by his mom's reaction. Does she accept 0:18:45.810 --> 0:18:50.169 blame for the incident? Has she ever apologized to you 0:18:50.250 --> 0:18:50.570 for that? 0:18:52.330 --> 0:18:54.010 I don't know. 0:18:54.530 --> 0:18:56.009 I don't want to fly out to say no, but 0:18:56.169 --> 0:18:58.889 I'm like leaning more likely. 0:18:58.689 --> 0:19:02.969 Not, Aiden says. When he first collapsed, Meredith was mostly 0:19:03.010 --> 0:19:05.889 focused on getting him onto the plane, even if it 0:19:05.970 --> 0:19:09.409 meant dragging his still limp body down the jetway weekend 0:19:09.490 --> 0:19:11.570 at Bernie's style, I would. 0:19:11.330 --> 0:19:14.609 Have expected that the priority is that I'm okay, not like, oh, 0:19:14.649 --> 0:19:16.530 but we need to get on the plane right. 0:19:17.609 --> 0:19:21.369 Meredith wanted to keep things on track, which not so 0:19:21.490 --> 0:19:25.330 different from Aiden, who hurried off to pf chains. And 0:19:25.409 --> 0:19:28.369 to top it all off, when they eventually were rebooked 0:19:28.369 --> 0:19:32.210 on a new flight, Meredith's ticket got upgraded. And guess 0:19:32.209 --> 0:19:35.409 who didn't offer that upgraded ticket to a certain somebody? 0:19:35.889 --> 0:19:38.810 I remember asking her Oh, did you ever consider, like 0:19:38.850 --> 0:19:40.330 maybe if I got the seed for that. 0:19:40.209 --> 0:19:42.490 Point, that you had been the one who was drugged. 0:19:42.530 --> 0:19:44.770 So yeah, And then she said I was supposed to 0:19:44.810 --> 0:19:48.249 be home ten hours ago, which, like that behavior in 0:19:48.330 --> 0:19:51.930 that scenario was uncharacteristic. 0:19:55.409 --> 0:19:59.609 They're very good pals, this is Meredith's daughter again, Quinn. 0:20:00.010 --> 0:20:02.649 But I think they have a harder time like being. 0:20:04.050 --> 0:20:05.170 Soft around each other. 0:20:06.570 --> 0:20:09.449 When they get in disagreements, both of them just like 0:20:09.490 --> 0:20:10.649 hoard it up really quick. 0:20:11.770 --> 0:20:15.490 Quinn says. Aiden and Meredith are both similar in their stubbornness, 0:20:15.889 --> 0:20:20.090 to which regarding the gummy incident, Aiden holds a hard line. 0:20:20.770 --> 0:20:24.129 He says Meredith is wrong about basic facts, like, for 0:20:24.209 --> 0:20:27.009 one thing, the drugs weren't out in the open, but 0:20:27.129 --> 0:20:29.930 rather stashed in an old iPhone box on a shelf. 0:20:30.689 --> 0:20:33.250 Andy says he would never have left the house while 0:20:33.290 --> 0:20:36.409 Meredith was still panicking on the floor. It was only 0:20:36.449 --> 0:20:39.170 once she was panicking safely in bed that he went 0:20:39.209 --> 0:20:41.490 off to his job, of which. 0:20:41.810 --> 0:20:43.169 I never worked at Pfchain's. 0:20:44.010 --> 0:20:47.169 Aiden briefly worked at a Panda Express, but that was 0:20:47.250 --> 0:20:50.449 months earlier. The job he was rushing off to was 0:20:50.490 --> 0:20:53.690 his caddying job at a golf course. My son had 0:20:53.689 --> 0:20:56.249 to head off to go serve Chinese food. Does that 0:20:56.369 --> 0:21:00.049 sound like more egregious than so my son had to 0:21:00.330 --> 0:21:01.689 leave to hit the golf course. 0:21:04.570 --> 0:21:07.570 I mean both of those. When you say it like that, 0:21:07.570 --> 0:21:09.010 that just sounds like self. 0:21:09.090 --> 0:21:13.409 When I first got into this, I was certain that 0:21:13.449 --> 0:21:16.969 Aiden and Aiden alone was to blame. But now that 0:21:17.010 --> 0:21:20.730 I've spoken with Aidan, I'm not so sure. I'm still 0:21:20.810 --> 0:21:23.369 willing to adjudicate, but I'm starting to feel a bit 0:21:23.369 --> 0:21:27.930 out of my depth, which drugging was worse. I don't 0:21:27.970 --> 0:21:30.850 know much about drugs. I couldn't tell you the difference 0:21:30.889 --> 0:21:34.770 between happy dust and happy powder. Lucky for me, though, 0:21:35.209 --> 0:21:40.930 I know a medical expert. After the break, a very 0:21:40.970 --> 0:21:44.770 special guest, A very special doctor guest. 0:21:45.689 --> 0:22:06.690 It's Jackie. 0:22:08.449 --> 0:22:13.249 Hello Jackie. No, this isn't a glitch in your podcast 0:22:13.330 --> 0:22:17.249 app The episode is not starting over. But this is 0:22:17.290 --> 0:22:22.570 indeed my friend doctor Jackie Cohen. Doctor Jackie Cohen is 0:22:22.609 --> 0:22:26.290 a doctor, and I'm phoning her today in her expert capacity. 0:22:27.010 --> 0:22:30.250 I start with the airplane incident. So what do you think? 0:22:30.330 --> 0:22:30.409 Like? 0:22:30.649 --> 0:22:31.609 Do you know what I mean? 0:22:31.689 --> 0:22:31.769 Like? 0:22:31.850 --> 0:22:35.290 Is that a reasonable like? Would you do that? Would 0:22:35.330 --> 0:22:37.010 you share my pills with my son. 0:22:37.490 --> 0:22:41.609 Of course not of course not listen. I okay, it's 0:22:41.609 --> 0:22:44.010 not the worst, it's not the worst thing she ever did. 0:22:44.570 --> 0:22:47.409 It's not the worst parenting moment. But it's certainly not 0:22:47.570 --> 0:22:49.810 up there. And the reason it's not up there is that, 0:22:50.209 --> 0:22:52.729 I mean, the only red flag to me and this 0:22:52.889 --> 0:22:55.169 is coming to you with her problems. So that's the 0:22:55.290 --> 0:22:55.970 first problem. 0:22:56.409 --> 0:22:58.850 That's that's your big that's the biggest lit miss for you. 0:22:59.330 --> 0:22:59.850 Yeah. 0:22:59.889 --> 0:23:02.689 So basically, yeah, you didn't. I mean, by your logic, 0:23:02.730 --> 0:23:04.969 you think that every single person who has come to 0:23:05.010 --> 0:23:08.289 me in all these years is not well by virtue 0:23:08.290 --> 0:23:10.050