The Share

Celebrating The Holidays CLEAN And SOBER

A few local folks with various lengths of recovery time onhow they deal with family life during the holidays.

BY PAULO MURILLO

theshare1216_shawningramSET BOUNDARIES

My family is grateful for my recovery and very supportive of it. I have the dubious distinction of being the first sober person in the family and the only one. I did all of my damage on the west coast away from my family. The first inkling they had that I was an addict was when I showed up for Christmas in 2012 forty pounds lighter. Now I’m very open about my sobriety. They don’t see me often enough, but I’m able to be in touch and I have an ability to be honest with them and I’m able to set boundaries, which is stuff that they notice and appreciate.”

—Shawn Ingram, sober since March, 19, 2014.

theshare1216_rickycardoosVERY BLESSED

My brother and I are alcoholic addicts. My brother got sober a little over six years ago. He found a solution and it took him a few years to convince me to come out here to LA to live a new life. Now I’m out here, following in the footsteps of my brother and I’m clean and sober. My family has an interesting dynamic, because they don’t really know too much about the disease of addiction other than when they saw it progress in my brother and me. They saw my brother get clean and sober and some great things happen in his life and now they get to see it in me.

These past two years, for Thanksgiving, I’ve been clean and sober and I was able to be of service to my family… that’s important because we have strong family values and strong relationships and it’s a good feeling knowing we’re all here and we’re all safe… My entire family is very supportive. I’ve been very blessed.

—Ricky Cardoos,  sober since August 21, 2015.

theshare1216_kennethhashCOMPASSION CAME

My family lost me in my active addiction. I went missing. I was 22 and I was out for about 10 years. There was no Thanksgiving, no Christmas, no phone calls, nothing. I did the work in finding my part in everything. And then my heart opened up. Compassion came in. The family is still a work in progress, but my mom supports my sobriety. I’m the only sober person in my family. One year I told my mom I had a sober service commitment on Thanksgiving and would not be able to see her and she was very supportive. So we had Thanksgiving dinner the night before. It was very moving… Everyone in my family is happy to have me back.

—Kenneth Hash, sober since May 17, 2012.

 

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