Beautiful Boy: Epilogue Summary & Analysis

After Nic completes three months at Santa Fe, his counselors recommend that he go to a program in Northern Arizona to continue his work in recovery and to get a job. Instead, Nic decides to travel east, where he gets a job and meets someone new. He continues writing his book. David is uncertain about these changes, but he knows that it is Nic’s life to do what he wants.

David turns 50 that December. He thinks about all that he experienced in the previous few years, including his stay in the ICU. He realizes, with the help of his therapist, that even if stress didn’t caused his brain hemorrhage, it didn’t help. He decides to go to therapy multiple times a week to work through his worry and guilt.

David continues to attend Al-Anon meetings. Though he has been doing good work in therapy, he is still unsure of whether he was partly responsible for Nic’s addiction. He does, however, recognize that he can never know how much he contributed to Nic’s addiction. David has accepted the other C’s: he cannot control it or cure Nic’s problem. David is confident that he has done everything he can to help Nic, and now it’s up to Nic to make his own choices.

David continues to hear stories from friends, friends of friends, and strangers who have read his article, often asking for advice. He advises talking to one’s kids early and often about drugs and being careful not to glorify drugs. He also suggests erring on the side of caution in knowing whether kids are simply experimenting. Looking back, David wishes that he’d forced Nic into a rehab program before he turned 18. Nic might not have been ready for its lessons, but it might have slowed him down.

David also recommends getting opinions from many people—doctors, therapists, and counselors—to decide what to do with a child on drugs. He says that sending a child to rehab is one of the hardest decisions a parent can make, but it can be a life-saving one. He says that rehab isn’t perfect, but it’s the best thing that exists. Medications cannot replace recovery work. David also notes that he would not help someone using drugs to do anything other than to return to rehab.

David also gives advice directly to family members to be patient with themselves and allow for mistakes. He suggests they go to therapy and Al-Anon because shared stories can help people support one another. For David, reading and writing has also helped. Though sometimes he still becomes anxious about the future, he has learned to take it one day at a time.

Daisy’s tenth birthday is also step-up day: Daisy is stepping up to fifth grade and Jasper to seventh. It is also exactly a year since David’s brain hemorrhage. That night, the family goes to Nancy and Don’s house for their weekly dinner. They play games together, run around with the dogs, and have dinner and cake.

Summer comes quickly, which brings surfing and time at the beach. At home, David continues to write when an email arrives from Nic’s girlfriend: photos from their recent road trip, with Nic smiling in front of Yellowstone National Park. David calls Nic to say hi: he sounds like Nic. Nic says to give Karen and Jasper and Daisy his love, and then he has to go.