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

Weakness head on me.

Free, free, free, free, free, free.

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

My name is Jean McCarthy. I'm your host and I write the blog on Pickled where I talk about life after alcohol from my very first day of sobriety six years ago.

And one reader of my blog who now has a blog of her own and we connected through the blog

world is Mary.

She writes a blog called Life Without Vodka Rocks.

And Mary has quite an interesting story to tell and not an easy one.

She faced an issue that every parent dreads,

seeing her children caught in the deadly grip of drug addiction. And her own alcohol use might have paled in comparison and maybe even appeared to help as she got her family through that time of crisis. But years later, she turned to face her own problematic relationship with alcohol and began a journey of sobriety.

So that is her story in life without vodka rocks.

And Mary's here today to talk to us more about this.

Hi, Mary.

Hi, Jean.

So nice to hear your voice because we've been sort of virtual buddies for years,

but this is the first time we've actually spoken.

Isn't that silly?

Yes, it is.

Like, why don't we pick up the phone?

Yeah, I know.

What's up with that?

...