My Chemical Romance, Part One

My Back Story

So, many of you do not know this, but I am in recovery.

In September of 2009, the 29th to be exact, I decided that I was powerless over alcohol, and needed the help of medical professionals, and God, to overcome my addiction.

The most difficult thing about checking myself into treatment was the fact that it was my father's birthday.

I kid you not.  I wanted to be a good daughter, so I called him to wish him a happy birthday.

He said "Thank you. How are you?"

I could hear the gulp...I answered that I was alright, but I was in the hospital.

That was the worst feeling ever.  I went on to explain that I had (finally) decided that I needed to

detox from alcohol and get treatment.  I wasn't sure what the next step was, but I wanted him to know that I was safe and under the care of some really good physicians.

Thank God, my dad was one of my biggest supporters/

Flash Forward - Ninety Days

After I went through a month of inpatient treatment, I went back to work and into sober living.

Sober living is shared housing, usually with two to four people in a room.  Random drug testing and required self help meetings (such as AA) are required as a condition of living requirements.

I was so happy to be back to work and felt a new freedom from not drinking.

I took a bus from my house near the Santa Barbara Harbor (an awesome place to be - close to the beach and a lot of great meetings...).

I kept up attendance to my favorite meeting - a Friday night meeting in a Goleta church.  It was a speaker meeting, which meant that there was one person telling their story about how they overcame their problems and found out how to live life on life's terms.

I didn't know it at the time, but that's where Mike first saw me.

I was with my rehab group, just four days after I stopped drinking...I was required to go to this meeting right out of the hospital.  I didn't even have anything to wear except the sweat pants I had worn to the hospital...

But what Mike remembered was my smile.

He said that I had a positive attitude.  When he reached out, I hugged him and he said "Keep Coming back"

And I said that I would.

Little did I know that he saw me every day at work, and knew that I didn't make the connection between us and that Friday night meeting...

Stay tuned for more of the story.