Today I Celebrate 10 Years of Sobriety!
Above Photo: Tracey and family celebrating her first year of sobriety
Little did I know that September 6, 2008 would be my rock bottom. I went out to the Kananaskis with a case of beer and a butcher knife thinking it would be the end. I was sick and tired of being sick and tired. I was in a location that normally would have no cell phone service. I received a call from my sponsor who knew I was in distress because of a phone call I made earlier that evening thanking her for all she had done for me.I was back living in my car and saw no point in living at all. She had asked me to dump the remainder of my beer and go to sleep and meet her in the morning at a meeting. I said I would, but saw no point in wasting the beer so I continued drinking until I passed out. This would be the last time I would drink.I drove to the meeting the next morning but was too embarrassed to go in. My sponsor had mentioned that there was a place called Oxford House that would be able to help me. I made several calls over that weekend, but got no response until Monday morning when I was able to fill out an application and arrange for an interview. I was so fearful of that interview as I did not meet the criteria set out by Oxford House at that time. Ron MacMillan and Al interviewed me and Ron reassured me at that interview that I was a good candidate for Oxford House, due to the fact that I was going back to my meetings, still had my job and willing to go to any length to get back on the road of Sobriety.Ron arranged for an interview at one of the houses for Tuesday evening, and that was the beginning of my recovery journey. Oxford House provided me with a safe environment to work on myself, and one of the greatest gifts was shaping my own future and becoming financially independent. It was difficult at times to live in an Oxford House, some people did not stay due to relapse or other reasons such as disruptive behaviour, and that was hard. It took me a long time to trust women and Oxford House provided a home for me to work on these issues, I am so grateful that I surrendered and finally became teachable.One year after moving into Oxford House, I was looking for a job at the same time Oxford House was looking for a bookkeeper. Ron drove out to our house and asked if I was interested in coming in for an interview. Of course, I said yes. I was hired, and started working for Oxford House on October 13, 2009.On January 2010, I started taking courses at SAIT in Accounting. In April 2014, I completed my Accounting Certificate, and I continued taking courses with Ron’s encouragement and the Board approval to continue my education towards my CPA. On June 2018, I graduated with my Accounting Diploma after eight years of night classes. Unfortunately Ron had passed by then, and was not with us when I graduated.One of Ron’s last requests to me was to continue my education and see it through to the end by completing my CPA level of education. Looking back, there have been many days when I wanted to give up; but I promised Ron that I would continue and would not let him down. I will continue in Jan 2019 to work on my degree, to complete what I started. Without Oxford House and its strong foundation, this would not have been possible.