by Bryan Trumbull

The sky was dark and gloomy.
A silhouette tumbled and fell as she walked down the street, beer bottle in hand, trying to escape the pain of a broken romance and the emptiness.
Dismal parties, drinking nonstop, and lines drawn on the back of a toilet seat. She did the same thing night after night; the disease had taken flight.
One day, she woke up. This had to stop, so she picked up the phone and called a friend.
She bared her soul, telling how the disease had taken her soul.
Her first meeting back, she bravely said she had relapsed.
She began to settle down and face the facts.
She began to do the Steps.
Slowly and decisively, she began to look at her past.
She reached out and admitted she needed help.
Once again, she picked up the phone and asked the person who would sponsor her to take her through the Steps.
Looking deep inside, she saw that drinking was just a solution to her mind’s deceptive thinking that made her pick up the glass.
Carefully and lovingly, she shared her deepest secrets with someone who listened and told her they understood.
They guided her through the steps, telling her they had such respect for her willingness to share and cast aside the shame for the behavior that made her feel depressed.
She began to stand tall. She began to gain self-respect.
Still learning, she fumbled and made mistakes, but she admitted her faults and took responsibility for her character defects. She faced who she was with grace and became willing to change her behavior, which caused her to hurt others and lose her self-respect.
Growing and changing, the sky began to look fresh. The sun took on a brilliance that made her realize there was something with great power enveloping her with love as she took the action needed to become the woman she always was—strong, loving, and willing to pass on how she changed from a moth with beaten-up wings, barely able to fly, to a beautiful, soaring butterfly.
Love, self-respect, and admission of faults were her keys to the freedom to set her on course for success.
It is one year later, not a drink or a line to get through life. That is in the past. Setting forth on a glorious journey to happiness by living a life based on spiritual principles and love for all humankind.

Happy Birthday! This is the beginning of a life full of possibility and remarkable success.