It’s been three years since I got the phone call in a JoAnn Fabrics in MA.
It changed my life. It changed my husband’s life. It changed our marriage.
It was a call that subconsciously I had been expecting and dreading all at the same time.
It was my husband, in WA, telling me that he had been caught going on duty drunk.
It wasn’t supposed to happen; he was in Rehab.
Yet it did.
There were a lot of emotions, from both of us, that day three years ago.
I can picture it perfectly in my mind.
The shock, the disbelief, the fear, the betrayal.
It was followed by tears that I couldn’t stop as I walked around the fall wreaths on display.
The Man hit bottom.
His bottom.
It was his choice, to keep drinking or to stop.
After that, he stopped.
I think it was the realization that he could lose everything.
His career, his house, his wife, and possibly his life, in this world and the next.
The month that followed was tough for both of us in different ways.
He went to daily AA meetings and was confined to the boat for 30 days.
I drove cross country with a close friend and was alone for the month of December.
His 30 days were up on Dec. 24.
He was able to come home.
That was the best gift I got that year.
A sober husband.
I’ve had one ever since.
It hasn’t been easy, staying sober for three years. Some days are easier than others. The Man’s alcoholism is a very real part of our life together. We talk about it openly. Munchkin will know that her daddy is an alcoholic. It’s not something we forget or ignore.
He takes it one day at a time.
We take it one day at a time.
