I had broken blood vessels around my eyes from vomiting in the morning.

Tilting the wide brim of a martini glass toward the sky to catch whatever plunked into it.

Drinking had saved me. When I was a child trapped in loneliness, it gave me escape. When I was a teenager crippled by self-consciousness, it gave me power. When I was a young woman unsure of her worth, it gave me courage. When I was lost, it gave me the path: that way, toward the next drink and everywhere it leads you. When I triumphed, it

As much as my father was there during my childhood, he was also not there.

When I cut out alcohol, my life got better. When I cut out alcohol, my spirit came back. An evolved life requires balance. Sometimes you have to cut out one thing to find balance everywhere else.

fearing another person’s opinion never stops them from having one. And my focus on external judgment kept me from noticing the endless ways I’d judged myself.

What’s the difference between a person who’s unfulfilled and a person who’s impossible to please?

Sometimes people drift in and out of your life, and the real agony is fighting it. You can gulp down an awful lot of seawater, trying to change the tides.

Lindsay and I worked on paper, but I couldn’t lose the nagging suspicion we were missing an essential spark. I wanted more, but I also thought maybe I was being unrealistic. What’s the difference between a person who’s unfulfilled and a person who’s impossible to please?