"THE HOUSE THAT JACK BUILT" is a Nursery Rhyme with Eleven (11) Verses, each Verse adding to the one before. Briefly, it starts out "This is the house that Jack built" in Verse One, proceeds to "This is the malt that lay in the house that Jack built" in the Second Verse and proceeds to this in the Final Verse:
"This is the farmer sowing his corn, that kept the cock that crow'd in the morn, that waked the priest all shaven and shorn, that married the man all tatter'd and torn, that kissed the maiden all forlorn, that milk'd the cow with the crumpled horn, that tossed the dog, that worried the cat, that killed the rat, that ate the malt that lay in the house that Jack built."
"MY NAME IS JIM AND I AM AN ALCOHOLIC." I lived in THE HOUSE THAT JACK BUILT. Addiction is Progressive in much the same way as the Cumulative Tale and Nursery Rhyme Condensed, above, presents. Like a House of Cards, it would Tumble and Fall, and I would either Die or Get Clean and Sober.
THE HOUSE THAT JACK BUILT is one of dozens of Analogies of Addiction possible. You see, "Alcohol is my poison, my prison. A brick wall, a trap door, a cancer, a bad joke, an empty bottle, an excuse, a leaky faucet, a loan shark, a broken promise, a cracked mirror, an earthquake, an avalanche, a train wreck, a recurring nightmare. Alcohol is my insanity." ADD ANY DOZEN ANALOGIES OF YOUR OWN!
The Cumulative Tale that is THE HOUSE THAT JACK BUILT is also the Cumulative Tale of 50,000 drinks over the course of my 30-year Drinking Career. THE HOUSE THAT ADDICTION BUILT, like the first house built by The Three Little Pigs, was built of Straw, a House of Cards, destined to fall.
THE HOUSE THAT ADDICTION BUILT eventually collapsed and I found Recovery. After a few relapses and eight (8) years of struggle, finally, I have found my way free. That Dilapidated House is all but gone forever and in Recovery, together, another, stronger and much more real House continues to be built.
"PEOPLE DON'T LIKE CHANGE, BUT THEY LIKE TO HAVE CHANGED." - Will Bowen
Together, we learn to take Responsibility for ourselves and do whatever needs to be done to maintain another day in Recovery. None of us, No One, wants to go back there. The Remains of that Ramshackle Pile of Sticks can never, will never make the lies it has told us all ever come true. ever be real, every do anything but Rule Over Us.
"PEOPLE DON'T LIKE CHANGE, BUT THEY LIKE TO HAVE CHANGED." Well, I guess, I'm People now, too.
Recovery is, truly, "Possible, Doable, Irreplaceable." I "like to have changed."
*****
#Enjoy ALL DRINKING ASIDE: The Destruction, Deconstruction & Reconstruction of an Alcoholic Animal. Find it on Amazon. Book it here: http://amzn.to/1bX6JyO &
My NEW, Non-Fiction, BECOMING UNBROKEN: Reflections on Addiction and Recovery. It is also on Amazon and may be found here: https://lnkd.in/dkF767RT
Both books are available in Print and Kindle editions.
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