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 host.

I've been chronicling mine 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 recently

released poetry collection, The Ember Ever There. I tell my stories there and I hold space for

your stories here. And today I'm holding space for a guest who is Kate Russell. Now Kate has

recently created a memoir and it is called Down the Rabbit Hole,

a memoir of abuse, addiction, and recovery. And Kate joins me today. Hi, Kate. Welcome to the bubble hour.

Hi, Jean. Thank you so much for having me. Oh, I'm glad that you're here, and it's nice to be back.

I was just telling you I was on vacation for two weeks, and to me, this feels more like

vacation than what I just did for the last two weeks.

I'm always so happy when I'm at my computer and connecting with my friends in recovery. So I'm glad to be

chatting with you today. Yay. So let's jump right into it because I know that you are prepared to

share your story. And I've spent most of the weekend reading your book. And so I feel really close to you,

even though this is the first time that we've spoken in person. So let's get to know you, Kate.

Tell us about yourself and tell us your story. Okay. So yeah, I'm Kate Russell. I wrote a memoir.

I was about two and a half years sober when I started writing this book.

And you and I have about the same amount of time.

I just got nine years in July.

And, yeah, and I, you know, I always knew I was going to write a memoir.

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