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 how weakness head on the feet.

Free, free, free, free, free.

Free, free, free.

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

I'm your host, Gene McCarthy.

I write the blog Unpickled, where I have been telling my story of life after alcohol since my very first day of sobriety in 2011.

I tell my stories there and I invite you to share your stories

here. And some of you have noticed there's been a down week on the bubble hour because I was away

on vacation. My husband and I took our little camper van down to the Grand Canyon. And I posted some pictures on Instagram. You can see those.

It's at Gene McCarthy Wrights. And have a look. You'll get a kick out of it. So there we are in a 21-foot

van. And I get up three hours in the morning before my husband and write. That's what I've been doing

these days.

I'm on my second draft. I'm editing a novel that I hope will be out later this year. And so I would get up and make a pot of coffee at 6 a.m. while he slept like right there. And then I sat in the

passenger seat at the front of the van while he slept in the back of the van. And it was just

fantastic and crazy. And it's just great so anyway have a peek at that and i must say if you are looking

for something out there in this world to put your life in perspective just go stand by the grand

canyon and that does a really great job with that of reminding yourself that no need to have a big ego, the Grand Canyon is much bigger than we are.

So anyway, I'm back from that, and I'm glad to be back, and I have my dear friend Courtney

on the line today.

You might remember Courtney, and if you don't, go back and listen.

She was on the show back in September of 2016, that's Season 5, Episode 15.

And she told her story about choosing to live alcohol-free and what that's been like for her.

...