There is this woman in the program that I have spoken with a few times. She is super nice and I always enjoy her shares as she is very open and honest. But she has a habit of disappearing from the rooms for extended periods of time. One time she was gone for months and it turned out that she was in jail for some past DUI conviction. She has pretty much lost everything do to her disease. She has lost her job because she can no longer drive. It seems just as she gets some momentum in life she drinks and gets knocked down again and again. It’s very sad to watch from the outside. Having had that change of heart that drinking is not for me.

So this woman was back in the rooms on Saturday and she asked me for a ride home. Which is normal as I’ve dropped her off at home several times. She started confiding in me that she is under some crazy stress and has relapsed again. This time she has really gone for it. She was doing some volunteer hours, part of her probation, at the Salvation Army shelter downtown and got herself involved with a homeless guy. They had a bit of an affair for a while and she was thinking about leaving her husband for this guy. He had her convinced that he could look after her and would give her nice things. Now this guy has turned on her and is showing that he is mentally unstable. He is threatening to go and tell her husband. He knows where she lives, he has photographic and email evidence of this. She is losing her mind and of course feels like her life is falling apart.

I often think I’ve heard it all in the rooms, but I am continually surprised. As Keith tells me, there are those you can learn from, then there are the “other” people you learn from….

• Uncategorized