The Author

For the purpose of this website and blog, my name is Susan Greene.  I live in Vancouver, British Columbia with two sons (thus, the pseudo name, at their request).  After 16 years of what I thought was a pretty good marriage to a wonderful man, he succumbed to alcoholism. He spiraled downward for three years until life went completely out of control. Then followed a year of attempted recovery.  He eventually left the marriage and moved several thousands of miles away from his children, leaving me to pick up the pieces.

During my darkest hours, I knew I needed help but felt I didn’t have anyone I could turn to. My family (I believed) thought I had a wonderful marriage.  I didn’t want to attend a support group meeting in a church basement where I might run into someone I knew.  So I turned to the Internet. There, I found references to networks and groups I could join, but very little substantive information to help me get through each day.  I vowed that if I ever recovered from this terrible period in my life, I would find a way to help others who were in that same situation. This blog is the beginning of the fulfillment of that promise.

I’ve heard people say that a life-threatening illness was the best thing that ever happened to them and I never understood how they could feel that way…until now.  My world collapsed and I was forced to face truths about myself and the world around me that I never would have addressed otherwise.  As a result, today my life is so much happier and far more peaceful than I could have believed possible.  I can feel joy again, and I’m starting to rediscover the personality that is me.  Life can be wonderful on the other side of a painful experience.  It all depends on whether or not we listen for the lesson in the pain.

I am not a counselor, psychologist, lawyer or other professional advisor. Any words of wisdom I might have come from my own experience, and the guidance of my many friends, family and advisors. Those advisors have included a shaman, a mediator, friends and family with a strong spiritual grounding, friends who are recovered alcoholics themselves, and of course many individuals who have themselves experienced life with an alcoholic. I am also a member of a formal support and recovery group which requests of its members that it remain anonymous.