Riding It Out

I almost drank last week. Summer was over and September found me living in New York City, over nine years sober, nearing forty, newly single and freshly laid-off. For fifteen months I'd been experiencing a painful stretch of recovery. I had watched other alcoholics struggle through similar patches. It's a difficult shedding of skin, a remaking for long-term sobriety. I also think it's one reason why we see such a dropping off of attendance at meetings around year seven or eight.