Beyond the Pink Cloud
Beyond the Pink Cloud
Jordan Tovin
Team Cobb
“The Pink Cloud” is a term attributed to the support one receives from their peers as they pursue sobriety. Often when people achieve sobriety, that constant support and affirmation wanes. Myia Kluesner, 27, is navigating motherhood while coping with the lasting effects of her past. A past user of meth and other drugs, Myia says that her pink cloud is gone. As a mother of three, she works as a freelance maid while balancing both the stresses and joys of motherhood to help raise the family she’s always wanted.
Myia Kluesner, 27, and her new husband Jacob Fuse, 30, spend time with their daughter Nina, 1, in their living room in Union, Mo. Jacob, who works in construction, felt sick and decided to stay home and help Myia with Nina, who has begun teething and has been crying more as a result. “It’s just the lack of sleep reminds me of back in the day—the lack of sleep reminds me of when I’d stay up too long, high or whatever,” Myia said. “That’s semi-triggering in a way.”
Myia gets gas on her way to drop off Nina at her babysitter so Myia can go clean a client’s house. Myia, who makes around $600 a month cleaning two houses a week, recently began cleaning houses to help Jacob with their monthly income.
Myia hands a vacuum to her son, Tyler, 3, while cleaning one of her clients’ houses in Washington, Mo. “Tyler likes to be super helpful with everything, especially cleaning since he doesn’t like dirt,” Myia said. “He likes to play in the dirt, but he doesn’t like dirt on his hands or on his feet or on the counters or on the floors or anywhere that he lives or functions.”
Myia brings Nina into the house after picking her up from her babysitter. “Nina prefers to lay down super early, between 5:30 and 6 p.m., and initially when we brought her home, she’d wake up like, two or three times through the night, but now, she sleeps all night,” Myia said.
Myia's dog, Rosie, jumps on Myia after going to the bathroom behind the house. “Jacob’s cousin had found this dog in some sort of dangerous situation,” Myia said. “Jacob’s aunt Rosie said we have this dog named Rosie that we can’t keep, and we were pretty much talked into taking her.”
Myia buys weed from her second cousin, Jordyn Trentmenn, 23, while dropping off Nina for Jordyn to babysit. Jordyn’s parents, who always give Myia a good deal, grow weed in a shed outside their house. “That’s my baby cousin, and I’d probably sit in a jail cell if it came to Jordyn,” Myia said. “She helps me navigate parenthood even though she’s younger. She matches my energy.”
Myia stares at her family’s laundry after getting back from cleaning a client’s house.
Myia lights her weed while doing her family’s laundry after getting back from cleaning a client’s house. After quitting meth, Myia began smoking weed as a way to cope with not having the "pink cloud" while navigating the stresses and joys of motherhood.
Jacob helps cook ground beef to put on nachos while Myia feeds Nina applesauce for dinner. “We cook family dinners probably like four days a week—we definitely eat out … like two or three times a week,” Myia said.
Myia and Jacob are photographed in their bedroom.