What’s it take to be sober 35 years? Probably every recovering alcoholic on earth knows the cliché answer: Don’t drink; don’t die. Sobriety, when it means abstinence, has always been easy for me. I knew from day one of recovery that my long romance with drinking and dope smoking was over. There was no question […]
What’s It Take To Be Sober 35 Years? Read More »
“There’s a hole in daddy’s arm where all the money goes,” wrote the recently departed John Prine in one of his many songs that illuminate the landscape and humble those of us who attempt to speak by written word. That sliver of Prine puts him among those generous souls from whom I have received a
I’m grateful that I didn’t discover my beloved in the barn hanging but not quite dead. I know what I would have done. I would have sat with her as she died, surrounding her with my love. She knew I wouldn’t waver in supporting her choice. Serving the call of the other’s heart was the
Having Someone’s Back Read More »
What does it take to be sober a long time? Easy. Don’t drink, don’t die. Which is to say, longevity in sobriety––29 years for me––is not necessarily much of an accomplishment. It’s not nothing. But it isn’t joy. “No recovering alcoholic dies happy because they stopped drinking,” my sponsor Pete told me way back when.
Recently, my son, daughter, and 19 year-old grandson, who live together in Rochester, New York, upon returning home from an afternoon outing of several hours, discovered in their kitchen an umbrella they’d never before seen. How it got there when all doors had been securely locked was a mystery solved only after a half-hour of
Incomprehensible Demoralization Read More »