getting sober, california style

Wayne at BFD Blog provides a photo tour of California treatment facilities. They're absolutely lovely! I don't think there were places like this when I spent a couple of weeks locked in the decrept, crumbling psych ward at Ponca City Hospital. I used to lie in bed at night trying to pick out faces and animal shapes in the creeping mold that covered my ceiling. We did have access to the kitchen: I spent a week whipping up boxed cake mixes and eating them with a spoon.

The hardass AA in me wonders if this might be why so many of the celebrities who shriek "I'm an alcoholic!" and run into treatment don't make it? Maybe they're different, though, and require much more pampering and attention. I had to hit bottom, living in a nasty ass rooming house for women, taking my AA meetings at a run down downtown AA clubhouse where the mix included wet brains and zippers rusted shut, where the long time members laughed about the "jitter joint" in the hallway, a tiny closet with a bed where the desperate could sweat out those first few days. It was quite a comedown for this child of privilege and it was just what I needed, really. I'm grateful I found recovery that way.

As far as the opulent California treatment centers ~ looks like another vacation plan to me.