It’s funny how the brain romanticizes things that no longer serve us. A glass of chilled Chardonnay, the ex-boyfriend, sharing a drag off a cigarette in the crisp fall air, the thrill of moving a pile of plastic chips across a green felt table. We could have said goodbye and made our peace weeks, months Read More
Category: Alcohol Addiction
Doing the Best We Can
“Not all addictions are rooted in abuse or trauma, but I do believe they can all be traced to painful experience. A hurt is at the centre of all addictive behaviours.” Gabor Mate, In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts Dr. Gabor Mate, whose above mentioned book I am about to dive into, believes that addiction Read More
Sunday Meditation: Filling my Cup to Fill Yours
My cup overflows with blessings. Surely your goodness and unfailing love will pursue me all the days of my life. Psalm 23 NLT My daughter often comes home from school telling me about her bucket, and what fills it. What has come to be a popular elementary school theme, the bucket analogy is used to Read More
I Dream of Drinking
Last night, I dreamt I was walking with a large handbag and inside I found an already open bottle of chilled viognier, a varietal I enjoyed a little too much. It was open. It was chilled. So inevitably I started to drink it, and along with it all the feelings of guilt over blowing it Read More
No Excuse for Excuses
Excuse: (noun) a reason or explanation put forward to defend or justify a fault or offense. Recently, I wrote a guest post for my friend Barb’s lovely blog, about how life happens not in the occasional big moments, but in all the ordinary moments in between. And it’s not until we start to engage with Read More
If You’re Drinking on the Daily, That’s Your Underlying Health Condition
I had a brief, socially distanced conversation with a friend the other day that I can’t stop thinking about. The conversation was great, blessed socialization, until the end. Her closing comment, delivered in her best one-liner voice, was, “Well, since you don’t drink, I’m drinking enough for the both of us these days…” Haha. The Read More
Expectations and the Guest of Honor
This year, I am greeting the holiday season with an “It is what it is,” mindset. I’ve wrestled with the habit of expectations for awhile now. Through my sobriety, I feel like God is teaching me to lay down my expectations and just be present. With COVID-19 and all the baggage it brings, I think Read More
Blessings and Blemishes
My middle son and I were in the dentist’s waiting room so he could get sealants put on his teeth. I stared down at my swollen knee, still sore from my surgery last week. We don’t often sit together and talk and I was listening to him lament the phenomenon of “maskne,” or blemishes on Read More
I Don’t Wear Labels
When I was in high school, I loved the clothing store The Limited. I spent hours with my friend, trying on sweaters and jeans. She was a shopoholic and had more money than me, so she often came away from our trips with bags stuffed full of the latest line. I remember one fall the Read More
Joy in the Dark
“Things are getting heavy…and yet, I think I see the light.” Me It’s raining on this Friday the 13th. This morning I went to the lab to have bloodwork done for my knee surgery next week. Outside, the clouds, heavy with condensation, mimicked the heaviness of my heart. Businesses are closing again in our area. Read More