Jim H

My story involves my future husband asking me to move out of his home and breaking off our relationship because I had fallen off of the dry drunk wagon and I was endangering his tenuous sobriety and the safety of his son. I had fallen in love with Jim the moment I saw his penpal entry on a penpal and singles site. I had decided he was my forever soul mate the moment we finally met after many emails and long, long phone calls preceding our first meeting. I had a long and VERY painful history of alcoholism and had lost family, my children, friends, and my career. I was an empty shell of a woman just surviving until my next drink.

The night he asked me to move out, I went outside, stared at the sky and cried all night long. I made the decision, prompted by his dismissal of our relationship (which by the way, he, at that point, was very in love with me) that the very next day, as I was moving out, I was calling a rehab facility and finally getting sober. You see, Jim saved my life that night. I told Jim, as I was preparing to leave, that I was going to rehab and at that moment, he said if I meant that in my true heart, he wanted me to stay and we would get and stay sober together.

After outpatient rehab that day, we went to my first real AA meeting and that started the ball rolling for a new life, for both of us, and for all of our family members and ones that cared for us.

We have walked some rocky paths together since then, and getting sober was and is the hardest thing I've ever done, besides being a parent, but we've walked side by side ever since, holding hands and braving the world together. We've been sober 12 years now and I'm thankful every day for my husband kicking me out of the house and God telling me that night, in a very strong way, that I had hit the very bottom and could not lose one more thing, which was my life.

Jim is my everyday hero, inspiration, partner, lover, best friend, verbal sparring partner in the best possible manner, and I know, with no doubt at all, that he saved my life. Through my sobriety, I've been able to regain family love, including the incredible love of my children, though my daughter is still estranged. I can only pray one day we'll reconnect and have a relationship. I'm just very grateful for what I have and despite life's challenges, my glass is ALWAYS half-full!

Thank you Jim for all that you are and thank you for staying clean and sober through it all, as well. I love you with all that I am and ever will be.

Submitted by Anonymous

Making A Difference