Article on author of "Mommy Doesn't Drink Here Anymore"

I just returned from a lovely weekend away in the Pocono's with my husband's family. It was a weekend filled to the gills of quality time with family, WAY too much food (especially cookies as those of you who were there can attest too), a little too little sleep, and lots of laughs.

I spent some time sitting on the couch in front of the fire, reading some Good Housekeeping magazines that my mother-in-law brought along. One of the articles told the story of Rachael Brownell, a mother of 3 daughters who used her daily glass of wine to cope with her daily trials. After a scare with one of her daughters playing in the backyard she started to question her use of alcohol and whether or not she had a "problem". She did, in my mind, some very smart and courageous things, that to her probably felt anything but smart and courageous.

She reached out to her brother, someone who knew her and loved her and who she respected. Her brother told her to find a meeting. In her first day, I think she went to 2 or 3 meetings. She said she at least kept her mind open to considering that this new way of thinking might be acceptable, rather than repeatedly telling herself that she did not have a problem. She may not have realized, but at least she hadn't fully given in to her denial.

What I respected most of her story was her honesty. I did not at all get the impression that she was trying to explain her alcoholism away, defend it, or try to make us forgive her. She was just explaining her story with what I found to be honesty and some real raw emotion.

Rachael Brownell wrote a book describing her first year of sobriety in Mommy Doesn't Drink Here Anymore. In the sample of the book I read on Amazon, she shares her childhood experiences with her own mother's alcoholism, her parent's divorce and the anxiety it invokes in her. As a child of divorce myself, I can relate.

My own parent's divorce was most certainly for the best, and we even knew this as children, but even so it has created some very deep questions and doubts in me. Can you trust your own instincts in selecting your partner? Does anyone stay? Is love ever freely given? Is there always a secret cost? What is going to go wrong next? Should I even attempt marriage and family, or am I destined to repeat what I experienced? Can I give my child(ren) a safer life?

I can relate to the struggles that lead Rachael Brownell to abuse alcohol, but I am more impressed with the strength it took her to confront her alcoholism with honesty, humility and integrity. I wish she and her girls only the best. While I do not struggle with alcohol abuse, I may check out Mommy Doesn't Drink Here Anymore to pay homage to another's struggle with and conquering of past demons.