I quit drinking.

It lasted 4 years from 1990-1994

One week in I realized that I didn’t know anyone outside of bars.

That’s when I began to paint.

Never once did I think of myself as an alcoholic because I could quit whenever I wanted for months and years.

I would work for 8 hours a day paint for 8, and sleep for 8.

4 years of no drinking and celibacy. It couldn’t last.

When I finally reached the rooms of Alcoholics Anonymous in the early 2000’s I found out I was a binge drinker.

I could stop. But once I started, I wouldn’t stop until everything was gone.

I also learned I wasn’t good at relationships mainly because I’d never seen a successful one.

My education began here…

So much to learn.

Still time to learn.

I sometimes think about who I left behind; however not for long and it is getting less often.