Every Decision Included a Drink Until I Could No Longer Think

 

"If you don't like a thing, change it. If you can't change it, then change the way you think about it." - Maya Angelou

"I can remember standing on the front porch of our house with my father when I was maybe ten years old. We lived in a small valley and a few miles away to the west was the rim of the valley. This was called South Mountain. We could watch storms approaching from the other side of the mountain. My father taught me how to predict when the storm would reach us by counting the seconds between when we saw the lightning and when we would hear the thunder. The closer the storm, the less time it takes between seeing the lightning and hearing the thunder. 

It takes a long time, too, when you first get clean and sober to get a clear picture of reality. 

Relapse now and you may never hear the thunder and feel the rain wash clean the debris of your disease.

My father and I stood on the porch. We saw the storm get nearer, saw the lightning, heard the thunder, the dog and cat beneath the couch because they were frightened and did not understand. 

And then the rain would come down in buckets, the street still hot, giant puddles of water, the steam rising and sometimes, just sometimes, after the storm, we would see a rainbow."

*****

The Storm of My Addiction has Ended.

I have found Recovery & Recovery has found me.

"Relapse now and you may never hear the thunder and feel the rain wash clean the debris of your disease."

Clean and Sober, the Rainbow is inside of us.

"If you don't like a thing, change it. If you can't change it, then change the way you think about it." - Maya Angelou

The Rainbow is inside of us.

*****

Following the opening Maya Angelou quote, much of the rest of this post has been excerpted from ALL DRINKING ASIDE, pp. 201 & 202.

Immerse yourself in my Descent into Addiction and eventual Recovery in my Autobiographical Fiction, ALL DRINKING ASIDE: The Destruction, Deconstruction & Reconstruction of an Alcoholic Animal (Find it on Amazon. Book it here): https://lnkd.in/esP83n-c 

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