I own it, I did that, not proud, but that was me, and when I face it, I take back a little dignity, not looking for excuses, I just want to be free from power.

Weakness had on me.

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 Gene McCarthy, recovery author, blogger, and podcast hosts.

I've been chronicling my adventures in life after alcohol since my first day of sobriety over nine years ago in my blog Unpickled and in books like the

Unpickled Holiday Survival Guide and my poetry collection, The Ember Ever There. I tell my stories there

and I hold space for your stories here. Today I'm holding space for a friend of mine who is

an amazing woman. Her name is Dawn. And we have spent time together

on numerous occasions over the years and we've been in sharing circles together. She's made a very

big impression on me and snippets of the things that she shared have become words to remember

for me. And on one night in particular when I was struggling with understanding my role in helping

others, it was Don, who sat up late with me and talked me through and explained how to

set boundaries and why that allows us to help others better when we aren't participating in

their drama.

So I'm really grateful to my friend, Don, and I have learned a lot from this lady.

And I know her story is powerful, but I don't know all the details.

I haven't heard it all from back to front.

And I'm looking forward to getting to know her story along with all of you today.

So, Don, welcome to the bubble hour. I'm glad you're here. Thanks, Dean. I'm really honored to be here today. Thank you for

asking me for sharing my stories. Oh, it's my pleasure. It's my honor. And it might surprise you

to know how much your words have impacted me, but it really is true.

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