50 Quiet Miracles That Changed Lives by William G Borchert

Author:William G Borchert
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-59285-867-5
Publisher: Hazelden Publishing
Published: 2009-03-14T16:00:00+00:00

29

God Sent Her a State Trooper

SHE HAD HEARD her husband, Paul, threaten to divorce her a thousand times before. Only this time, as she stood in her kitchen swaying from too many glasses of wine, Rose watched as he waved the actual divorce papers in front of her. It was something she could no longer ignore, pretend wasn’t happening, walk away from, or feign sorrow and remorse over as she had done so many times before.

This time there was a determined look on her husband’s face and an angry glare in his eyes, a glare that aroused well-justified guilt in her alcoholic soul. As she turned back toward the kitchen counter and began pouring herself another glass of wine, Paul grabbed it from her hand and threw it into the sink.

“You can have all the damn drinks you want after you sign these papers!” he shouted at her. “This time I come first, not your damn booze.”

Rose slumped into a kitchen chair. Paul threw the papers in front of her, handed her a pen, and pointed to the space for her signature. Her hand trembled as she scribbled her name on two copies. Then her husband yanked the documents from the table and stormed out of the kitchen. After a few moments, she heard the front door slam as he left the house.

The thin, dark-haired mother of three didn’t remember anything else until she awoke the next morning on the couch. An empty wine bottle was next to her on the floor. She had apparently continued drinking after her husband left and went into a blackout. Her blackouts were occurring more frequently of late. Only last month she woke up in a motel room next to some man she had never seen before, at least as far as she could recall. It filled her with guilt and remorse.

Rose knew in her heart this couldn’t continue, but she had no idea she had a disease that made her powerless over alcohol. She only knew she wanted to stop drinking and everything that went with it, but as hard as she tried, she just couldn’t quit.

For the last five years her husband had been telling her she needed help. Her two older daughters would plead with her to go to an alcohol rehab. But the strong, self-willed woman kept insisting she could stop—or at least cut back—on her own. Her younger son never said a word, probably because he had as big or bigger problems with alcohol and other drugs than his mother.

Rose finally managed to push herself off the couch and stagger back into the kitchen. A copy of the divorce papers was still there on the table. That’s when it all came back to her. She leaned against the counter and began to weep. Then she heard a voice deep down inside her saying, This is the end of the line. You either do something or you will die.

She opened a drawer in the counter and took out the Yellow Pages phone book.

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