- Alcohol
- Drugs
- Friends & Family
My last drunk was Mardi Gras, March 5, 2003. I was kicked out of a Mardi Gras ball the night before in front of a lot of my board members. I was the executive director of a small chamber of commerce at the time. I began drinking when I was 15. I was an alcoholic by the time I was 17.
I was spiritually bankrupt, sad, lonely and empty. I was mostly just tired, tired of the hangovers and black outs, tired of pissing my friends and family off. I tried so hard to hide my addiction that I didn’t even realize that I was a drug addict, too, until I was three months sober. I thought I would smoke pot and take Xanax until the day I died. I literally could not imagine life without it.
The day of my last drunk, I parked at a friend’s mother’s house to walk to the parades. I had a cooler full of ice cold beer at nine in the morning. I vaguely remembered the events from the night before but only bits and pieces. I remembered that my friend’s mom had been sober for about a decade. I asked her how she did it. She invited me to her 12-step meeting that Saturday. I said I would go, but I really didn’t think I would. But I did! My amazing journey in recovery began that day. I stopped using drugs three months later. I will celebrate 12 years clean and sober on June 1, 2015!
If I could go back and talk to my 21 year-old self, I would hug her and tell her that recovery is fun and that she will not believe the amazing things God has planned for her on the other side of addiction. I am so blessed to have the gift of recovery. My husband of ten years, our eight-year-old daughter and our five-year-old son have never seen their wife or mom drunk or high!
I am so thankful for this new life!