Amie’s Story
We can tell you some things we’ve learned about alcoholism through our ten years of marriage. For instance, alcoholism doesn’t go away…as once you have it, well then…you have it…it just doesn’t clear up. It has different stages, but in a broad sense there is only Active Alcoholism and, if one is fortunate, then there is Recovery. For the majority of our marriage, my husband had been an active alcoholic who also abused prescription drugs. He promised for years to get help. Ultimately, he did this by going to a rehabilitation center. Thanks be to God as that experience changed our lives so much for the better.
All of this happened though in a most unusual way. It’s been five years now since my husband set out for the rehabilitation center which was in a neighboring state and about a 4-hour drive away. He had several 4 packs of wine with him, maybe thinking to steel himself for his new environment and the uncomfortable encounters that might lie in wait in the days ahead.
I had expected a phone call from him to tell me he had arrived safely at his destination. Instead, 2 hours after he left, I received a call from an ambulance driver. He informed me that my husband had been in a serious car accident. Thankfully, he would be okay. the car though was totaled.
After speaking with the ambulance driver, I enlisted one of my husband’s friends, who was in Recovery, and together we set out for the hospital to pick up my husband and transport him to the rehabilitation center. The next day, I made a trip to the tow lot to retrieve personal belongings from the wrecked automobile. My husband kept a Jesus cross hanging from his rear-view mirror. I saw that it wasn’t there anymore. Imagine my surprise when I noticed that it had become mysteriously wrapped around one of the bottles of wine lying on the floor.
The symbolism in that cross was pretty inescapable. First, the addiction to alcohol had been put in chains, and most importantly, my husband had been protected from injury or worse. The signs pointed to a successful rehabilitation at that time 5 years ago, and that’s exactly what has happened. We’re now living in the stage of Recovery!