My group mates have put up with so much shit from me all these years. I love them with my whole heart. Special shout outs to my favorites: R.S., T.L., C.C., D.E., J.T., S.M., K.S., M.N., J.S., K.B.B., J.P., C.G., A.R., B.A., S.M., S.N., and S.K. And to M.C., who is no longer with us but whose loving wisdom continues to guide and comfort me.
I’m grateful to every person who shares their recovery stories both inside and outside meetings. They mean everything to me. I’m forever grateful to Dax Shepard for his commitment to honesty and truth-telling about addiction and alcoholism several times a week on his podcast Armchair Expert.
When my parents heard about this book, they said the words that every writer hopes their parents will say: “It’s your story. You have the right to tell it however you want.” I’m grateful for their years of support and all the gifts they’ve given to me.
To Doug and Alex Tate for their support and enthusiasm, which I hope never to take for granted. I’m glad you are my family.
Thank you to Leslie Darling, Michael Lach, Keme and Jamail Carter, Thea Goodman, Marc Dubin, Caroline Chambers, Betty Seid, Maria Tamari, Davey Baby, Carol Ellis, Karen Yates, Steve and Celia Ellis, and The Writing by Writers Program.
My kids are going to be mortified if they ever read this book. No one wants to read about their mother’s sex life. The good news is that I’ve given them ample material for their own therapy sessions. I thank them for making me a mother. To be present and to love and be loved by them are the reasons why I stay in recovery and continue in therapy.
Lastly, to my main man who has more patience and know-how than anyone I know. Thank you for loving me and for championing my storytelling and my voice. I feel so lucky every single day. Everyone who goes into therapy in hopes of finding a relationship is dreaming of someone as bighearted and steady as you are. Thank you for being part of the ending of this book and the center of my happiest days.
More in Personal Memoirs
The Glass Castle
Shoe Dog
The Girl with the Lower Back Tattoo
Year of Yes
An Invisible Thread
Primates of Park Avenue
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Christie Tate is a Chicago-based writer and essayist. She has been published in the New York Times (Modern Love), the Rumpus, the Washington Post, the Chicago Tribune, McSweeney’s Internet Tendency, Eastern Iowa Review, and elsewhere. Kiese Laymon selected her essay “Promised Lands” as the winner of the New Ohio Review’s nonfiction contest, which was published in fall 2019.
@ChristieOTate
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First Avid Reader Press hardcover edition October 2020
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Interior design by Lewelin Polanco
Jacket design by Sara Wood
Jacket art reference: Alexander Kirch / EyeEm / Getty Images
Author photograph © Mary Rafferty
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data has been applied for.
ISBN 978-1-9821-5461-5
ISBN 978-1-9821-5463-9 (ebook)
