To the Fog and the Redwoods

"There has got to be another way to live," I thought aloud as I stared at my haggard reflection in the mirror on the morning of November 16, 2010. I was coming off another bender to which I could recall very few specifics. It started with one beer with dinner on my birthday and it ended four weeks later in front of my bathroom mirror detesting the person I saw looking back at me. That one beer set off a chain of unmentionable events that convinced me beyond the shadow of a doubt that despite my best efforts, despite my innermost desires, I could not stop drinking. This was a long time coming.