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 my adventures in life after alcohol since my first day of sobriety over nine years ago, in my 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. And today I'm holding space for Louise. Hi Louise. Welcome to the bubble hour.

Hi, Jean. Thank you for having me. I'm so pleased

you're here. We've been emailing back and forth a little bit and you have volunteered to join me and

share your story, but you and I have something in common and that something is poetry.

We do, don't we?

Yes, Instagram, where I first started sharing my stuff in a public space.

Well, we'll talk a little bit more about that in a few moments,

but first I want to open up the floor for you and ask you, Louise, to tell us about yourself and tell us your story.

Thank you, Jean. So, yes, my name is Louise, and I would now count myself as an alcoholic.

My story always starts at my crisis point. I found myself sat in an AA meeting at the end of March 2009. And I had no

idea what I was doing there. I'd driven my car into a ditch without any recollection of getting

into it, putting the key in the ignition,

driving it out of the pub car park,

getting down the road.

But I knew I had because I was stood there looking at it.

...