RECOVERATI

Tag: Recovery

Forlorn and resigned

Part III: The Center Cannot Hold

First and Foremost The day that Roe fell, our team launched into rapid response–some Def Con, DDay, hard core shit. I got a text message delivering The News around 10:15am, after which I choked down my first cup of coffee to sprint, while texting and emailing, to my office. We sent out alerts to Planned ...

Mother holding a newborn

A Mother to Be

Try as I might, I cannot pinpoint the moment I became a mother. My best friend/coworker/doula explained that I became a mother the moment I knew I was pregnant. I wish that were true. It took so much longer–so much more for me to experience–to grow into motherhood. To be clear, becoming a parent was ...

Image of a girl alone in her home

I Think We’re Alone Now

Nobody likes to admit when they’re lonely. Especially not now. It’s sort of a cruel joke that there ALREADY exists an epidemic of loneliness overlapping the coronavirus pandemic.  God forbid we have a say in the matter. I think the difference now is that this loneliness epidemic affects people of all ages, not just older ...

Piggy bank with coins

Entitlement is a Warm Gun

A Friendly Wager Let’s assume that this is the first and ONLY pandemic of our lifetime. It’s a stretch, I know. So far, COVID-19 is the first and ONLY instance in modern history where every single person ON THE PLANET is experiencing the same thing. Of course, we can’t all live how the “Haves” would. ...

COVID 19 magnified cells

What a Time to Be Alive

Stranger Than Fiction I made it 1/4 of the way through Gabriel García Márquez’s novel Love in the Time of Cholera before I set my copy down never to return to it again. I mispronounced cholera for the duration of my time between those covers. The way I said it, ignorance sounded like ko-LEH-rah. I don’t do ...

Feet dangling over a tower's edge

Don’t Look Down

Tip Toe / Chokehold My wedding shoes were five inches tall, making me a five-foot-nine bride. I chose the shoes before the dress becuase I despise trying on clothes. When I settled on electric blue shoes, the splash of color and tradition were all I wanted to see. It wasn’t until I stood at such ...

Black lingere

Hands to Pants Combat

It was during my first weekend as a co-ed I discovered how to get rid of the spins. When I engaged in furious making out and/or heavy petting, I became distracted from the disco ball in my head long enough to fight back nausea. This amounted to many nights twisted up in sheets, learning to ...

Flames

This Thing of Ours

I’ve never read Dante’s Inferno, but I can personally testify to its veracity– there is more than one layer of hell to visit alone. The progression of my alcoholism was swift and perfunctory. The first time I got drunk, I blacked out. It was then that I smoked my inagural cigarette–a Marlboro Light–after which I ...

Knives with ornaments hanging from them

Five Ways to Celebrate Holidays Sane and Sober

Who says we can’t be truly charitable with our party personalities during the holidays? One thing I always keep in mind by the time Thanksgiving rolls around is that I have a lot to bring to the season. I don’t need to sway clumsily over the stove, slurring my words as I forget to add ...

Chocolate Christmas calendar

Chocolate Calenders

The first Christmas I spent entirely drunk was in Florida. Coincidentally, Florida was the last place I was drunk for the holidays. In 2013, I visited my twin and brother-in-law in Miami. I cornered her after I downed two vodka sodas to demand an explanation and an apology for why she never visited me. I ...