Lauren was friends with twins in high school. Their father used to introduce them by saying, “These are my daughters. They lie.” I thought it was funny, because he always said it with a resigned, seriousness: as if having teenage daughters who lied was somehow unique and surprising. The fact is, anyone who […]
Category Archives: Sober Article
I don’t have a mattress. I am sleeping on the Balinese daybed (anyone who has plunked down on it expecting to sink comfortably knows this is self-punishment – it’s stiff as a bed of nails). My king sized bed did not fit in my new apartment and I bought a sleek queen platform, thinking I would […]
I was thinking of those old werewolf movies (the ones before the flattering Twilight series), where an average guy is minding his own business in a dark alley and gets bitten by an infected wolf. He sees a full moon and suddenly hair sprouts from his knuckles, his jaw elongates and he screams as his […]
You know that phenomenon where it seems faster and easier on the return leg of a road trip? I think the same thing applies to moving: I think it’s a lot more fun to unpack than pack. And since I had all my earthly belongings in storage for more than a year, it was simultaneously like Christmas […]
Tim S told me to be vigilant: moving is the time when established patterns get thrown to the wayside and routines that have kept me sober in the past are subjugated to the unpacking of a hundred boxes (what is all this stuff???). In the past few days I have not felt the desire […]
I had a moment of abject panic this morning. I couldn’t find the small, Louis Vuitton suitcase that I packed with every piece of jewelry I own. The pearls Jonathan gave me when Lauren was born, the Hermes bracelets, the ring I bought myself in St. John as a “divorce present,” everything… I remembered I took it […]
Are there rapids in Grand Rapids? Maybe I should have researched this more… I don’t really know a lot about Grand Rapids, even though I am from Michigan. But it might be a little late to worry about that now. All my worldly goods are on an eighteen-wheeler heading into a snowstorm and I am […]
How’s that title for showcasing three of the homeliest words in the English language? A couple of days ago, Alec sent me a Facebook message that read: “Today I was in philosophy class and they defined temperance as the mean between abstinence and gluttony. I thought of you and had to share this“. First of all, I […]
I had a great evening last night – a group of us went to see Ambler Hutchinson’s show at Florida Mining Gallery, and then to dinner at India’s restaurant afterwards. It’s to the point now, where old friends talk about my previous grapples with alcoholism casually – the way they might remember a long ago bad […]
I had dinner with my friend Tall Girl last week. She said, “You really are the epitome of the steps – putting one foot in front of the other. No matter what has happened to you, you just kept plodding along, staying sober… ” I never thought of it that way before, but I […]