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Piece of Cake
My brother left rehab yesterday. His insurance ran out. After two-and-one-half weeks. Insurance companies are mind-bogglingly stupid. They’ll pay for him to go to rehab three times. But apparently only...
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I don’t trust anyone who doesn’t drink.
My neighbor recently borrowed my juicer. He often starts a new diet, and this time he decided on a juice diet. Being past my juicing phase, I gladly let him have a go. (I stopped juicing because it...
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Evolution
(Photo credit: Wikipedia) I follow a lot of blogs written by alcoholics in recovery. According to my therapist, and by my own assessment, I am not an alcoholic. I am an abuser of alcohol, however. No...
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Discourage
Discourage 1. to deprive of courage, hope, or confidence; dishearten; dispirit My eldest brother died last year in April of complications from alcoholism. Almost a year ago, now. My father died in...
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Big Brother and Black Cats
Which do you want first: an update on my brother or the cats? Brother, it is. He sounded much better this morning. A bit of vitality has returned. It must be the two pints of blood they’ve given him. I...
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Seven Days
Cinque Terre, ItalyMay 17, 2012 I’ve spent my nights since I returned from Houston drinking wine, eating, and watching Downton Abbey with my neighbor. I keep referring to it as Downtown Abbey. My...
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My gift to my brother
Today was my brother’s memorial service. He died 11 days ago on March 25 of acute myelogenous leukemia (AML). He was 52. My brother had struggled with alcoholism for many years. He tried going sober...
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On Coping. Or Not.
I’m smarter.No, I’m smarter.You’re both dumbasses compared to my brilliance. I’m on a flight to Chicago. It’s an all weekend work rah-rah session. That means 48 hours with hundreds of lawyers. Lawyers...
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Permission to Stop Drinking
A couple of years back, I wrote a post entitled, “Am I an alcoholic?” I don’t think I am, so I kept drinking. Since then, I’ve googled the hell out of things like: Reasons to quit drinking even if...
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Reformed Drinker
I quit smoking cigarettes (for good) eight years ago and became a Reformed Smoker. You know the type: smoking disgusts me and I make no bones about it. I don’t want to be around it, and I if I can …...
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For Steve
Two years ago today, my brother Steve died of acute myelogenous leukemia at age 52. Three days shy of getting his 90-Day sobriety chip. While the cause of death officially was cancer, in actuality it...
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Relections on One Hundred Days
Today is my one hundredth day booze-free. The quit has been a lot easier than I thought it would be. And a lot better. My big takeaway: I like not drinking alcohol. I like being clear-headed all the...
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Living Without Lines
Yesterday I hit Day 120 of booze-free living. Things are beginning to gel. I’m beginning to see the not drinking as part of a bigger picture. Part of the overall goal that I have for my life now that...
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Wanted: One Crystal Ball
I’ve spent father’s day weekend looking at assisted living facilities in Austin for my mother. Currently, she lives in Houston, 150 miles from me, and 3 miles from my sister. Last Friday, her AL called...
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Freeloading Family
My nephew is a freeloader. Yesterday, after years of back and forth, I traveled to Houston to put a stop to it. My mother’s oldest grandson, in his early thirties, has lived in her home (in a garage...
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Sober Vacation
I have returned from what is becoming a yearly sojourn to the cabin on Lake Superior. This year, I took my twenty-six-year-old niece, daughter of my brother Steve, who died in 2013. She’d never been to...
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A Disney Thanksgiving
As I was watching Tarzan with my mother in her hospital room on Thanksgiving, I was struck by this scene: Jane Porter, supporting herself between two branches, where she is stuck. “It can’t get any...
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In-Between Christmas
Yesterday was the first Christmas morning I have awakened in my own bed in sixteen years. I had planned to sleep in my parents’ bed in the home they lived in for nearly forty years. No one is living in...
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Better Living Through Science
I take back every bad thing I ever said about antidepressants. OK, maybe not everything. Abilify did make my hair fall out. Viibryd gave me sleestak dreams. Wellbutrin plugged me up until I began...
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Permission to Stop Drinking
A couple of years back, I wrote a post entitled, “Am I an alcoholic?” I don’t think I am, so I kept drinking. Since then, I’ve googled the hell out of things like: Reasons to quit drinking even if...
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