by PAL | Dec 28, 2023 | Someone In Recovery
IN HER OWN WORDS… As I sit on my bed alone, broken to the point of thinking I may not live, I still am not sure I can ever get sober, to be honest, I’m not even sure I want to. I start thinking that I have to do this, I have to do something, as I know the...
by PAL | Dec 1, 2023 | Someone In Recovery
December 2013. Downtown Phoenix. Lost. Broken. Emaciated. Sick. Gray December skies punctuate the morning as I climb the stairs to the emergency room doors. Banner Good Samaritan. Twenty-six years ago, I was born here. I snub my cigarette out with my shoe...
by PAL | Nov 1, 2023 | Someone In Recovery
This time of year always instills in me a deep sense of gratitude. As the leaves change color and the weather cools down, I often find myself reflecting. The dark days behind me strike such a brilliant contrast to the light that permeates my now daily...
by PAL | Oct 1, 2023 | Someone In Recovery
June 2013 – 12th St & Maryland It’s 2:00 a.m. I’m crouched under the awning of a neighborhood bar’s entryway and it’s pouring. Sheets of rain splatter against the asphalt, coating my face with a cold mist but I don’t notice because I’m high,...
by PAL | Sep 1, 2023 | Someone In Recovery
2013 Bruised, broken, emaciated, exhausted, and sick. I’m using meth and heroin in a hotel room in Glendale. I’ve been up for three days; when I look at the carpeted floors, they vividly appear to be alive with crawling bugs. I close my eyes and try to...
by PAL | Aug 1, 2023 | Someone In Recovery
Summer. 2011. It’s 110 degrees outside. The sun bakes the concrete courtyard where I sit, the radiation of unbearable warmth rising. I smoke cigarettes with my back leaned up against the wall as I sit on the ground in a spot of shade near the stairway. I don’t...
