The Bottle on the Counter

Sobriety gave me a life I never expected, happy, joyous and free ... the exact opposite of life when I was drinking. The obsession and compulsion were gone and the promises came to fruition at every turn. Life was going so well, I got complacent. I lingered around the edges of AA, kept up with program friends, read a little literature, and every once in a great while, I remembered to thank my Higher Power for my life and continued sobriety. It seemed like that was enough for a number of years. Then, my partner of nineteen years died. I stayed sober, but edged further and further away from people, choosing to live alone with my pain. In the process, I edged further and further away from anything resembling happiness.