{"product_id":"ill-have-mine-straight-up-still-counting-my-blessings-every-day-9781512757811","title":"I'll Have Mine Straight Up: Still Counting My Blessings Every Day","description":"\u003cp\u003e • Author(s): Heidi Heath Garwood\u003cbr\u003e • Publisher: WestBow Press\u003cbr\u003e • Publisher Imprint: WestBow Press\u003cbr\u003e • BISAC: Healing\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eELEVEN YEARS\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eShhhhh! Enough on the years. I am not collecting years, just days. 4017 days on my sobriety birthday, July 12, 2015.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eLast time I checked, we are all on the same day--\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eToday.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThis year leading up to my sobriety birthday in July looked strangely like the six months leading up to the day I stopped drinking. From January to July in 2004, I was not sober much of the time.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eWe received the news this year that my husband had a rare form of thyroid cancer requiring surgery and two types of radiation. During that same time, my mother died suddenly of a heart attack. I went through the loss of several other friends and their memorials tightly packed together right after my mom's death--then recently, my only niece's death.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe difference?\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eI didn't drink through any of what has happened this year.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThere is nothing in this life that we can experience that a drink won't make worse.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eWalking through the emotions of it all is hard. People said I would \"feel better\" when I got sober.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eYes, I am feeling my feelings better because I am present. Stuffing the feelings by drinking was keeping me in denial and stuck. I \"feel\" better because I am not checking out. Feelings are not facts. The feelings pass. Growth happens. I can move on and live.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eNow, I am living all of this life straight up!\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eYou can too. I pray that for you.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Atlantic Books","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":46494437605527,"sku":"9781512757811","price":1526.0,"currency_code":"INR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0666\/3471\/1191\/files\/9781512757811.webp?v=1769174556","url":"https:\/\/atlanticbooks.com\/products\/ill-have-mine-straight-up-still-counting-my-blessings-every-day-9781512757811","provider":"Atlantic Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}