Category Archives: Sober Article

I Who Have Nothing (Oh, Get Over Yourself)…

I’m hung over. It was my birthday yesterday and the darling people I work with brought cupcakes. There were four left, in the baker’s box, for me to take home last night. I won’t disgust you with the details… The sugar settled in my joints and eyelids, and when I got up this morning, I felt puffy […]

All or Nothing: Alcohol, Sugar, Coffee, Exercise Addiction

I made it through Halloween without eating a single piece of candy. I did eat a fortune cookie, which hinted I was going to meet an “important stranger who would change my life”, but fortune cookies don’t count. They don’t have any more sugar in them than toothpaste… If I had eaten any real candy, it […]

Recovery Time Management – Am I Really THAT Busy?

My young friend Ellie asked me if I was still going to help people get sober. She said my new blog format was so professional looking, she thought I was getting out of the booze-busting business.  Actually she didn’t use the term “booze-busting”. She did remind me that I made a difference in her dad’s […]

The Remarkable, Rubberlike Resilience of the Alcoholic

I saw the movie “The Girl on the Train” twice last week. I had read the book – it was a gift from my dear friend Nick, who is not alive anymore to give me gifts, so it has special meaning. Special meaning too, as the main character is a female alcoholic. It would be […]

Sigh – As Autumn Leaves Fall I’m SAD…

Winds in the east, mist coming in,  Like somethin’ is brewin’ and bout to begin.  Can’t put me finger on what lies in store,  But I fear what’s to happen all happened before…  I don’t actually have Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD). I have some version of old fashioned melancholia, I think. The exquisite, nostalgia of autumn in a […]

I Was Walking Down the Street Sober…

I was walking with a friend of mine after work last night. He’s in recovery too – about the same length of time as me. We have both been sober long enough to have gotten past the acute, cravings stage, but recent enough to remember what it was like to have them. If you saw […]

Memories – Like an Alcoholic’s Storage Space…

Sing it to the tune of, “The Way We Were“. I was back in Jacksonville for a long weekend. I was reconnecting with my loved ones, helping my daughter Lauren move, and cleaning out one of my storage spaces. There is something metaphorical about spending the day in a place where the things you kind of want, but […]

Exploring Sober Life in Fields of Poison Ivy…

I yack all the time about getting out and exploring in recovery. “Hike,” I say with conviction. “Fill your hands with a camera and your head with passion for something rigorous.” Climb a mountain, snowshoe across an unmarred wilderness! Take the path less traveled by! Adventuring Without Pepper Spray… The photo above was taken when […]

How a Storm in New Zealand Impacts My Sobriety in Michigan…

There is a group in Jacksonville called the Saltwater Cowgirls who partner with my friends at Lakeview Health. They call it surf therapy: providing lessons in surfing and life for the residents in addiction treatment at Lakeview. I lived on the ocean in Jacksonville Beach, but I have never surfed. I am not a strong swimmer, […]