It was July of 2000. I stayed in touch with the motivational speaker. I had attended some AA meetings. I didn’t get a lot out of them partly because I just wasn’t ready to surrender. He encouraged me a lot and assured me I was right where I needed to be. I was surprised he didn’t yell at me; get angry because I was still drinking; instead he was very compassionate, and understanding.

        I went down to my family’s beach house in July and was drunk pretty much the whole time. My nieace and a friend were coming down and some of her other friends from south Florida were coming up to meet her. One night close to midnight a party was going on in the neighbor’s house behind ours. I suddenly said “let’s go!!” My niece probably wasn’t sure what to do so she and her friends went with me. I ended up just sitting on the neighbors deck half out of my mind. They had to hold me up walking back to my house because I couldn’t walk on my own. I fell about halfway there and about 150 sand spurs attached themselves to my shirt. It was painful to say the least. They had to take my shirt off (thank God I had on a bra). We got home and I don’t remember the rest. The next morning I came downstairs and all of them were giggling under their breath. They were saying how funny I was and how much they enjoyed it. Come to find out they had videoed me when I got home. I viewed it and was so ashamed and embarrassed. Words can’t describe how awful I felt, and how I just knew I had to do something about my life.

        I called my new friend the speaker a few days later, and he said that I might want to contact a friend of his that was a therapist and get some outside help. So, I took the name and number and swore I would call her once I came back to Atlanta. In August, I came back home and it took me a couple of weeks to get the nerve up to call her. Once I did I felt better. Our first visit I was so nervous, but she had a demeanor that helped me be relaxed and comfortable. She seemed as if she really cared, and I was a stranger to her. I shared my story, and she told me she was an alcoholic too. So I received a lot of encouragement and tips to get on the path of not taking a drink one day at a time. We set up for me to come at least once a week in the beginning and I felt I was at least on some new pathway that might be positive.