I stood on the edge of the field. The two girls’ soccer teams before me were locked in a close match, trying to break a 1-1 tie. My youngest daughter stood next to me. She held the leash for our three-year-old Labrador next to her. Together we watched her older sister playing defense in the …
The door slammed shut. I didn’t know whether to follow him or let him go. We had just had a huge argument. He had been drinking and I didn’t want him driving the car. I especially didn’t want him taking the children anywhere in the car. Something needed to change, but I wasn’t sure how …
I was in the northern woods of Minnesota when the message came in. Someone found me in the equipment shed where I was sorting camping gear. When I returned the call, I learned Karen had died the night before. Karen was the sister of my best friend. She had struggled for two years with leukemia. …
How is it that some people are never wrong? They have an excuse for everything, and always someone else to blame? There are so many examples of this that come to mind. For example, there is my four-year-old grandson who says the only reason that he hit his twin sister was because she sat in his …
I celebrated 30 years last week – 30 years of sobriety. A lot has happened during that time. Before becoming sober, I had one failed marriage, three arrests for possession, and then the arrest that changed it all. A friend died of a drug overdose and I was charged with murder in relation to his …
I am intense. I admit it. Before recovery, there were times when things went wrong and I got really upset. People around me when that happened learned to walk away from me. They said I frightened them. As a result, I ended up alienating people whom I considered friends. My dad was a perfectionist. He …
There was a time when going to the bar or smoking weed behind the barn were my only hobbies. I’d gather with some buddies, we’d get high, tell stories, break some bottles, shoot some cans, have a few laughs – and that was our fun for the night. It took losing my family, a couple …
I watched the retired Army veteran in front of me pulling on the rope attached to her horse. She was part of a therapy group using horses to address their fears. There were 4-5 other vets in the arena with us, each attempting to work with a horse to do some basic exercises together. Her …
I’m the avoidant type. I’ve never liked conflict, don’t respond well to it, would rather find a quiet corner and hide. If I couldn’t find a place to be alone, I resorted to getting high to avoid my feelings. As a result, I sought out relationships that were conflict-free. That meant finding friends to get …
The instructor was standing over me. I heard him shouting, “Come on, Goldilocks! Get your sorry ass up and let’s try that again!” Welcome to the U.S. military. This was boxing class. The first step toward full-scale hand-to-hand combat fighting. I was in the ring flat on my back because I’d let my opponent get …
