I knew how to vacation drunk, I did it well. In fact, I was drunk from the day I stepped off the airplane to the moment I slept it off, home in the comfort of my own bed. I would pack a cooler of drinks and sit in a chair on the beach, or next to a pool, enjoying cocktail, after a cocktail. One is finished, and another is popped open or make to order right away, no time to spare in-between. No time to stop, go directly to dinner. Cocktail hour before, cocktail hour after, fall into bed, pass out, and start my day all over again. I thought this was the most fabulous vacation anyone could ask for. Ten days wasted. The phrase, I need a vacation from my vacation, was defiantly me. I needed ten days to recoup from my ten days of drunkenness. My body hated me, to be truthful I hated me. In fact, it was on a vacation that I learned that if I drank a glass of liquor in the morning, my shaking body would settle down. I started hiding a bottle in my makeup case so that I could add it to my morning coffee or orange juice. On vacation and then in my day to day life, I couldn’t let anyone know that I was a mess inside, that my body needed alcohol more than I wanted. I wanted to not drink my vacation away, but I also didn’t know another way. Drinking allowed me a way to hide the lonely. A buzz covered up my shame, it allowed me to play the part of the fun girl, though the girl inside was not having fun. Life today is different, thank goodness. It’s not at all about the drink. It’s about relaxing and being present in my life with my man. We’ve visited with my mother and her husband, we even played 18 holes of miniature golf, also had a few hole in one’s to brag about. We’ve walked the beach, fished, had some great dinners. We wake up ready for coffee, bright eyes and a healthy body, we even start our days with a few exercises to strengthen our muscles and give oxygen to our brains. The sun has struggles to say out from behind the clouds, we have even had a few all day rain storms. We both are in recovery so rainy day in the past would have been spent in the inside of a dark bar, today we read and watch a few great movies. Using the time to relax, not waste it away ignoring life, sitting on a bar stool. We still laugh, joke around and have fun, it is different, and I remember every minute. We have plans to go out fishing as the week progresses, that big one is waiting to find my hook. We will have some beach time, I still love my feet in the sand and a cold drink in my hand, though today its only sparkling water, and we like to end our nights in the hot tub, for the sole purpose of relaxing. All sober, no alcohol allowed on our vacations now, and I love it. I can’t imagine ever going back to spending a whole day sitting inside a dark room, sucking down drink after drink. Grateful to be on a sober vacation, when I get back I will be rested and ready to begin seeing and catching up with my clients. See you in the barn, but not until I’ve had me a little sun kissed days. #equinetherapy #horsesheal #healinghorses #sobriety #recovery #recoveryhappens #vacationsober #vacationinstyle #freedom #soberholidays