Promises I Hope to Keep

Tina Whitmore smoking a cigarette while running errands in Smithville, Mo., a town near Excelsior Springs. Whitmore, who is a month and a half sober from her meth addiction, has been struggling to rebuild her life.

An old family photograph of Tina Whitmore with her ex-husband and their five boys sits on a shelf in grandfather Vernon Stephenson’s apartment in Excelsior Springs. Emily Whitmore, her youngest child, not pictured, has only known her mom after her addiction began.

Tina Whitmore, at right, walks with her daughter, Emily Whitmore, 11, and her grandfather, Vernon Stephenson, in a neighborhood where Whitmore says meth can be bought. “It’s hard living at grandpa’s and knowing where I can go,” she said. She was proud of herself, though, when she turned it down three times last week.

Emily Whitmore tries to get her mom Tina’s attention as she talks with her boyfriend on a video call. They are both living with Tina’s grandfather, Vernon Stephenson. “Don’t feel like I’m paying enough attention to you?” teased Tina Whitmore. “Want some love?” she continued, as she cuddled up to Emily.

Tina Whitmore chats with her boyfriend as her daughter, Emily Whitmore scrolls on her phone. “Me and her, we have our days where I don’t know if I’ll make ’til she’s 18,” Whitmore half-joked. Tina finds it hard to reconnect with her daughter after so much instability.

Emily Whitmore clings to her mother’s arm in the grocery store in as they shop for dinner.

Tina and Emily Whitmore look at nail tips at Nice Nails, a salon in Excelsior Springs.

Emily Whitmore rests on her mother’s shoulder as they leave a dental appointment in Kearney, Mo.

Emily Whitmore looks on as Tina Whitmore walks away from her sons’ home, where she keeps some belongings, in Excelsior Springs, Mo.

Tina Whitmore empties pennies into a coin-counting machine at a grocery store in Excelsior Springs. She received just over $15 from the coins.

Tina Whitmore sifts through clothing at Goodwill to find an outfit for a job interview at a nearby hotel in Liberty, Mo. She hopes to one day have a home where she and her children can all live together.

Tina Whitmore gets ready for the day.

Tina Whitmore smiles as her boyfriend, Wesley Holt, kisses her on a walk around Excelsior Springs. She and her boyfriend, also a recovering meth addict, find support in each other through their sobriety.

Tina Whitmore embraces her boyfriend Wesley Holt in the morning after spending the night together for the first time in two months. Her boyfriend has been staying in a sober living home and had just one night to be with her before transitioning to a different home.

Tina Whitmore anxiously awaits a job interview in The Elms hotel lobby. In the interview, Whitmore said she’s motivated by her kids to get the job and get her life back on track.