Mommy Wine Club to Boozeless Book Club
Before I arrived in this life as an author, a podcaster, and a sober mom of eight, living in the suburbs of Seattle, my journey began as a bicentennial baby in Los Angeles. That means I was born in 1976, making me a proud member of Generation X.
My first stop was 1980s Mountain View, California (before Google and Facebook made it cool), where I was an awkward Christian kid, always seeking acceptance and a place to land. After church camp hijinx and dreaming of being the next Madonna, I returned to LA for college. Instead of soaring to new heights of fame as a pop star, I worked in campus safety (think “Mall Cop” minus the Segway) and got my degree in communication studies. Right after college, I met a charming Australian future airline executive, and we were married six weeks later.
I began my new adventure as a wife and a high school English teacher and watched my husband’s career begin to take off. He gained altitude, earning promotions and relocating the family, while I struggled with excess baggage. As a young teacher turned stay-at-home mom to four kids, I was grounded by depression, isolation, boredom, and a devastating crisis of faith. I soon became fueled by extra glasses (or bottles) of wine.
My new hobby? Every activity that included alcohol.
I started taking every route in life that included alcohol. I drank at my husband’s work functions, during play dates, kids’ birthday parties, and sporting events. After cruising like that for a while, I started losing altitude and drinking all day, every day. I carried a travel mug full of wine, chugged drinks at book club or before hitting the gym, and almost floated out to sea with my daughter on a boozy trip to Hawaii. Eventually, I crashed and burned with a broken nose, broken leg, failed rehab attempt, and a DUI, which led to being led away from my kids in handcuffs.
Fast forward over a decade later…
More than ten years of sobriety and four more babies later, I have reached a comfortable cruising altitude. This doesn’t mean my sobriety is on autopilot; I navigate through turbulence daily with the help of my recovery community and family. I embarked on a new career as an author and wrote my first book about sobriety and my second book about mental health. I’m flying high as a bestselling author, recovery advocate, and podcaster. Instead of using my book club as an excuse to drink, I lead a boozeless book club, where we focus on stories of transformation and recovery.
In some ways, my story is unique (really, who has eight kids these days?), but it’s also the experience of many other travelers. People get sober and transform their lives. Jet lag, childbirth or alcoholism—they all require recovery. This wild trip taught me that if I give my health and recovery priority boarding, everything else in life is first class.
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