Dear Grapevine

Mangos by the sea

My sister invited me to join her and her family for two weeks of fun in Hawaii on the garden isle of Kauai. The thought of it was exciting—yet terrifying. I had never traveled without my husband, and this was my first sober vacation ever. Back home I have my home group and my sponsor, and I go to lots of meetings. But vacations were out of my comfort zone, and I was afraid. It was baffling to experience such intense feelings after almost three years of sobriety, but that’s the power of my disease. My emotional sobriety was wavering.