My name is HD and I am in active recovery from alcoholism. I am fifty four years old, have been married for thirty years, and have three grown daughters, ages twenty seven, twenty five, and twenty three. I have been “surrounded” by women my entire life. I grew up in a female-dominant family. The topic

I took my mother and grandmother out to lunch twice recently as a Mother’s Day gift. The first time was Asian cuisine for dinner. The other, an All-American Diner with a simple breakfast/lunch menu. Both places could not be anymore different, yet the result was the same; satisfying. We arrived hungry, laughed and ate while

I stood on the playground in my green, parent-volunteer apron. Kids were eating, playing, running, sliding, screaming. A fifth grader carrying a lunch tray frantically ran toward me and then screeching to a halt. His eyes bulged. He looked like he was going to throw up. But there was no sound. Oh my God are you

    My friend’s daughter broke her wrist. I looked at her picture and immediately felt her pain and joined the chorus of others – “Ouch and poor baby!” But then I looked closely at the cast. Scrawled in red were the words: I HEAL FAST. What a concept. Broadcast “I heal quickly” to the world, to your

In this chapter of Caroline Knapp’s book she tackles the topic of denial…one with which we are all too familiar. How many times have we heard in a meeting that denial is not a river in Egypt?  What we have also heard in the rooms is that denial stands for “don’t even notice I am

I am on the verge of a Borderline Personality Disorder diagnosis. When I faced disappointment today, I recognised something about myself that came out in this poem. The stereotype Borderline Personality Disorder sufferer is reactive outwardly. I am not. I wanted to share this. I live in words unspoken, the shore you see, gives no indication

I have been on this planet for a while – and in my recovery just about half as long. I have seen society go through a number of shifts regarding women, and I have seen women go through a number of shifts regarding themselves. The rooms of recovery have changed in response to both of

When entering recovery we embark upon a journey with many new perspectives from different sources that can help us heal from a seemingly hopeless state of existence. Lots of options and information. However, as women we are often the main caretakers in our environments and have many roles we need to attend to. Our own

Kintsukuroi is the Japanese art of fixing broken pottery through the use of a lacquer resin sprinkled with gold powder to mend the broken pieces back together.  At some point in the 15th Century, the Japanese started to employ this technique.  Collectors everywhere started to clamor after these repaired pieces because they were seen to

Matters of the heart are generally a big issue for people in recovery. Not only from the emotional aspect, as we learn to come to terms with our past, but also from a physical sense, having spent years abusing our bodies recklessly. So what mends a broken heart? Self-care is always the first port of