Read the previous two parts of Ricks story here My sons moved to Portland, Oregon and wanted to come and visit me up in Olympia. After getting over the tidal wave of emotions, I said sure. They arrived a week later in an over loaded Hyundai, with two of their friends. Through the process of elimination,

  Read Part I of Ricks story here “On my second day in Germany, I got so drunk that the hangover lasted for three days…….” I drank and got drunk almost everyday that I spent in Germany. When I first got there, I fell in love with their beer and food. I never drank American

On March 20th , 2013, something happened that changed my entire life and way of living. I can only hope and pray that this change is forever. I started drinking around the age of 14 but was introduced to alcohol much earlier. When I was about 4 or 5 years old, I would sneak up

  “I wanted to design a course that was a one stop shop as well as having access to a supportive community. It’s kind of what I wish I had when I came into recovery first.”   Following on from our last podcast with Dawn Clancy of Growing Up Chaotic, we disucss Dawns new first ever

   Slowly my need for alcohol diminished. I was no longer afraid of facing my emotions. When my life hit that famous rock bottom in 2013, I didn’t go to a meeting or to treatment. I didn’t even accept that alcohol was playing a part in the disintegration of my ability to get through life’s

  It seems that each time my friend and I read a couple of chapters for my review, we see that the topics mesh effortlessly. I can’t imagine two more closely connected chapters than the topics of domestic abuse and violence and shame. We are reminded by Rosemary O’Connor, the author of this book, that

The next two chapters of Rosemary O’Connor’s book, “A Sober Mom’s Guide to Recovery — Taking Care of Yourself to Take Care of Your Kids”, deal with very important topics for anyone in sobriety, but maybe more so for Moms than anyone else. Without good communication skills, our relationships with our kids can be severely

In the rooms of Alcoholics Anonymous, a familiar refrain is that religion is for those who are afraid of Hell and spirituality is for people who have already been there. I am here to tell you that no truer words have been said. Most people who walk through the doors of AA or NA have

In Rosemary O’Connor’s chapter called “Joy and Laughter”, she talks about the lack of those things while in the midst of the disease, and how she found them again in recovery. Rosemary talks about a number of instances that reminded her of the power of laughter and joy in everyday life. One of the places

  “Don’t die with the music still in you.” – Rosemary O’Connor In this chapter of O’Connor’s self-help book, Rosemary examines the concept of living life in recovery. We don’t get clean or sober to live in a bubble or to just stay frozen in time. While in our addiction, we never thought about the