I own it, a distant, not proud that was me, and when I face it a little dignity, not

looking for excuse me, I just want to be free from power, weakness head on the feet, free, free, free, free.

Free, free, free.

Hello, everyone, and welcome to the bubble hour, where real people tell real stories of addiction and recovery.

I'm your host, Gene McCarthy.

You may know me from my blog Unpickled, where I have been writing about life after alcohol for more than six years since my very first day.

Now, you may have noticed an unanticipated gap in our programming this summer.

I wasn't planning to take a month off, but sadly, very sadly, my father-in-law passed away.

And once again, I found myself needing to just hunker down and look after myself and the people that I love until I

could find the energy to turn outwards again. And it's a good reminder that we really can't

hold space for others if we haven't looked after ourselves. So we're only halfway through the year,

but already 2017 has tested my sobriety in ways that I did not

expect. So far, I've faced a broken leg and the death of two important men in my life,

my father and my father-in-law, who were both gone within a few months of one another. And there

have also been some wonderful occasions, and wonderful occasions can be a challenger for

us non-drinkers. My son's wedding, which was beautiful and fun. I made it through that as the

hostess with the mostest, but still didn't drink. And my husband and I went on a two-week

trek through Europe and I was offered wine at nearly every meal and had a surprise bottle of champagne delivered

to my room on my birthday and managed to get through all of that unscathed.

It wasn't always easy, but I did it.

And then just last week came the hardest sober moment I have had in a long time.

And I want to share it with you

...