The top of the hill. It’s like childbirth – once it’s done you forget the pain… NOT. I have never thought the simplistic AA aphorisms, “one day at time” or “one step at a time” were trite or cliché. I am reminded almost every day, that the journey from addiction to recovery is made in small, […]
Category Archives: Successful Recovery
The economy of Puerto Rico is worse than not good. I heard a lot about it from Gabby last night over beers at a seaside bar called La Pescaderia. I’ve been there before – in fact it is my favorite hangout in Puerto Rico. I always love to hear things from the source, and […]
This is not my cousin’s party tent – I forgot my phone – but it was like this, only with lots of people. White pants are the “thing” for spring by the way… The old “Cheers” theme song, set in the neighborhood bar, crooned, “Sometimes you wanna go where everyone knows your name…” I guess […]
I have two stories about going left, and one conclusion: Story One I was in a therapy group one time, and a woman said that if she was driving down the street toward her house and the light was green on a certain street, she’d “go left” and drive past the ABC Liquor store. Of […]
18
May
May
I have a confession to make: I am a little afraid to go back to The Bahamas. It’s the land of “wine for breakfast” and “every day’s a holiday,” after all. I was looking through some old photographs this weekend, and I was back in Blue Heaven – I could smell the rust and salt. […]
I suppose it is simplistic to say that addiction impacts one’s quality of life. When I was pounding chardonnay, I found it hard to negotiate or associate or relate (at the risk of sounding like Jesse Jackson) to anything but the next drink. It’s as if my periphery narrowed; life was lived within the confines of a wine glass… One of […]
03
May
May
For a couple of years before I quit drinking I walked around with a continuous, low-grade hangover (when I didn’t have a top-of-the-line hangover). Which is weird, because I hate the feeling and a hangover is preventable. That salty taste in the back of the mouth, the shakes, the sensation that someone big is pressing a knuckle […]
02
May
May
I have heard that the best way to get acclimated after moving to a new city is to “overbook” all the interesting things that have been suggested for you to do. The theory is that you are so busy, you forget to be lonely and you meet new people and can always cut out the […]
So I ended up talking to the old friend I was scared to talk to. He said he had been trying to find me and Goggled “Marilyn Spiller”. Then he read and watched and looked at the photos (with what he described as equal parts “horror” and “fascination”) depicting what I have been doing since last we […]
20
Apr
Apr
Every morning of my adult life, I have woken up and given myself instructions that I almost never follow. “Today you will only eat leafy greens.” I mandate or “You are going to push your cuticles back in the shower.” I don’t know why I do it. It’s like I set myself up to fail. For […]