I am a retired teacher who quit drinking and found happiness! After going deaf, I now have two cochlear implants!
Dear Readers,Fall is here!Hubs has been retired for three days, and it seems very normal for hm to be here. It's really nice in the morning because he brings me coffee! Yesterday he washed all the windows!(Oh look! I can see the street now! LOL)Recovery meetings can be intense, as people share some hard things in life. I … Continue reading On Shame
Dear Readers,I lost my hearing, slowly over time. For awhile, hearing aids helped, but when I was around 58, my hearing diminished to the point where they did not help anymore.This was a struggle, not only with teaching, but hearing in any sort of group setting.After I retired, I took a leap of faith and had a cochlear implant … Continue reading Can I Hear You Now?
Dear Readers,A Long Hot walk!There is a major transition, a change, happening in Mr. and Mrs. UT's lives soon. Hubs is retiring!Yikes!! Or Yay!!All depends on my frame of mind, ha!The good news is, we like each other a lot, and one of the keys to our long standing marriage is we like to play together. We love to … Continue reading Changes
Dear Readers, 4 Years!Today, September 4, I have been sober for four years. Lately, I have been seeing and hearing about people who have died from alcohol and/or alcohol related problems. Sometimes, I tend to forget how brutal this disease is, partly because I don't see this in my day to day life. It usually destroys us slowly. It destroys families, marriages, … Continue reading 4 Years!
Dear Readers,On A Walk!August 21, was my 42nd wedding anniversary! Hubs and I met in 11th grade of high school, dated 7 years, and now married for 42.Now that we are seniors, LOL, we look around and ask ourselves how did we get this far! We had many amazing fun time together, and a few hard … Continue reading On Suffering
We forgot the paddles! Luckily the lake was close!"We don't develop courage by being happy every day. We develop it by surviving difficult times and challenging adversity." Barbara De Angelis Dear Readers,In order for me to get sober, I had to have the courage to face the fact I had to change. I had to have … Continue reading The Courage to Change
Dear Readers,A Flower I Found"We can think of ourselves as a brilliant star; significant, yet small compared to the endless expanse of space around us." "There's much that is beyond our capabilities and much we don't know, but that doesn't diminish what we know and can do. We can feel humble seeing how our strengths contribute to the whole".(From the book, A Woman's … Continue reading You Are Already A Star
Dear Readers,Photo from last year, on one of our walks!If you read statistics, you would wonder why we would even try to get and stay sober, as so many people go back to drinking. I know in my heart, I have to take my sobriety very seriously.It's firm. I don't drink. I found this great article from the FIX, … Continue reading Why is it hard to stay sober? Looking back at my relapse.
Dear Readers,Stanley Island, VancouverMr. Ut and I went away for a vacation in Vancouver, Canada, and we had a wonderful time!However, since I have been back, I have been struggling with a little more anxiety. That in turn leads to some depression.In this case, I know some of the reasons why, where as in the past, I … Continue reading Coping With Anxiety
Dear Readers,"Comrades"; On the Milwaukee River WalkI have learned so much from other people who are in recovery or who struggling to get sober in these last 45 months.When I read sober blogs, listen at meetings, read books on sobriety, or read tweets, I am learning.The trick is to keep an open mind, and listen, so … Continue reading 45 Months…Still Learning
Untipsyteacher 