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 […]
This title is tricky to punctuate. Without the quotes, you might think I am giving a movie review while drunk. But I am not. I am giving a review about a move with drunkenness as the subject matter. Have you noticed how many movies involve drinking in one way or another? And that it […]
I walked to work this morning. At 5:30 AM – and I watch Criminal Minds. I probably looked like the priest in the Exorcist: a long black coat, a rosary dangling, my arms laden with heavy, black bags. As if I were going to knock on one of the doors of the big, dark houses and […]
26
Apr
Apr
I re-watched Anonymous People last night. Is it just me or does it need an update? It reminded me of the conversations I have had recently with folks who are new to sobriety and full of piss and vinegar. They talk about how they plan to tell the world they are sober and proud. I always […]
24
Apr
Apr
It’s a beautiful spring Sunday and I have started to get to know a group of active women in recovery in Grand Rapids. They have the “Riverside Ramble”, a 4 mile walk on Saturday mornings; planned bike trips to the farmer’s market 20 miles from town; and impromptu hikes in various parks. I’m a multi-tasker, […]
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 […]
One upon a time, there were two little kittens who lived in a den on a cold river with a spinster beaver named Rodentia. You may wonder why the kittens don’t live in a basket like other kittens and play with balls of yarn or sharpen their claws on couch arms all day. You may wonder […]
18
Apr
Apr
Park distractions… does the woman on the right look serious enough to be a Marine? She is out of formation and appears to be giggling… I finally hooked up with a women’s walking group this weekend in Riverside Park (“thanks” Jan, for setting it up). Riverside Park has a wide sidewalk and it runs along a […]