Tag Archives: stop drinking

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, […]

There is no Place for Thin Skin in Recovery!

Have you ever had a person say something to you jokingly, and it’s kind of mean, but funny? And you let it slide like a boss, because you know how to laugh at yourself? But years later you still think about it every once in a while? I remember a long time ago, I was wearing a […]

Living Sober on the Other Side of the World…

One of the things that has been wonderful about getting sober, is meeting new people online from around the planet. I have readers in 32 countries. Isn’t it incredible, when you think about the reach of the internet? I think of myself as a student of the world. I’ve been around. And when my friend Lotta Dann, who […]

Excuse Me Madam, There’s a Monkey on Your Back…

Nice monkey… I think it’s universal that people who are in active addiction feel a sense of urgency. There is always the need for “more”. It’s why we hide wine bottles in winter boots. It’s why we look around sheepishly, and polish off the dregs of other people’s drinks while they are in the bathroom. There is […]

The Four Hour Benchmark – Partying Sober

I was always a good four hour drinker. If I had a glass of wine or two getting ready and a roadie for liquid courage, I’d arrive at the party with a little buzz and about four hours until the witching hour, when I sneaked out the back door. I was famous for ghosting. I’d hit that […]

Advanced Recovery – The Greening of the Ghost…

I have been in Grand Rapids for exactly six months. I arrived in the middle of a snow storm, like the girl in the opening act of a Broadway musical. 42nd Street or A Chorus Line – my suitcase full of sweaters, bauble hats and high hopes. The glove box free of screw top, wine shooters and Slim Jim […]

Why are Weddings Triggers for Alcoholics?

Remember the movie where Sandra Bullock gets drunk at her sister’s wedding, steals the limo and crashes into a house? I am going to a wedding today, and I do not intend to do that. Nor do I expect to drink up the dregs of liquor left by tablemates when they get up to dance. I won’t go to […]

Marking 3 Years of Sober Bliss…

My husband used to enumerate at cocktail parties, the number of years of “wedded bliss” we had endured. With his English accent and studied, straight face it was obvious he was being ironic. We had some great times, but it was not all familial rapture: no marriage is without its ups and downs. I was never […]

Found on Facebook – 5 Ways to Explain the Drunk Years…

Whatever happened to unlisted phone numbers and secrets? I heard from an old boyfriend the other day. Does anybody else get Facebook private messages, where people you haven’t heard from in years start a conversation without preamble? I have now had every past relationship of merit check in with me on social media. It reminds me […]

The Degrees of Gratefulness…

Do you ever think to yourself, “Ok, I did some lousy stuff when I was drinking, but just how much do I have to atone for my bad behavior, and for how much longer?” I mean I’m not the only one who was prideful or wasteful or an unpleasant drunk, right? Enough is enough – […]