STORYTIME TAPESTRY

Special Treat  - Sharlette Hunt

April 28 2005

Hopeless Alcoholic

Sharlett Hunt

There have been so many miracles in my life, too many to mention, but the grandest of them all was the day I started living again, that moment when God suddenly made me see that I could live without alcohol, and do quite well. 

  I had drank heavily on a daily basis for many years.  I was completely spiritually bankrupt.  I had gotten so low as to live on the street and drink from quart bottles that someone bought.  I found it quite easy to get someone to buy me a beer, but not food. 

  Sometimes I would go to a friend's house and receive the luxury of a bath and maybe a couch for the night.  Those nights were few and many were spent outside, on the cold, wet ground or worse.  I even spent nights in a railroad car in San Antonio Texas, one night in a burned out mobile home.  I woke up with soot from head to toe, still intoxicated from the night before.

  My family had long since disowned me and I knew I deserved it.  I had lived with my dad for a few years before it got so unbearable for him that he had to send me away.  I know now that hurt him so deeply.  I felt that I had nobody or nothing except my bottle of beer and I wanted to die. 

  I wanted to die so badly and I thought God heard my prayer in my drunken stupor.  I became consumed with the idea of the peaceful feeling that death would bring.  I completely stopped eating and continued to drink daily, from morning till I would pass out somewhere.  I lost so much weight and was skin and bones.  I finally went to my doctor at the V.A. Hospital and was diagnosed with cirrhosis.  I still drank.  It was starting to physically hurt me and I lost control of my body in a way that totally disgusted me.  I was in and out of  detox and still wanted to die and I still couldn't give up the booze.  Soon as I got out, I started drinking again.  It was total misery and I was lost with no way out, or so I thought.

  By this time I had started receiving a disability check and was able to buy a small mobile home and had my own bed.  I had been through treatment programs and knew there was something wrong with the way I thought and I needed to change it.  I didn't care if the sun came up the next day.  I slept and drank.

  One day I happened to catch a glimpse of myself in the mirror and I was in total shock!  This disheveled, wrinkled old lady was not me.  I looked through my tears and realized I had started turning yellow and my eyes glowed.  I had become jaundiced and started to itch unlike any itch I have ever experienced before.  My entire body itched, especially at night.  This was a Hell of my own making.  I knew there had to be a way out.

   My doctor hospitalized me and, I found out later, didn't expect me to make it.  I felt a deep peace come over me and I tried to pray.  My health improved and I was discharged but was still a gray color, the color of death I've been told.  I went home to my lonely trailer but didn't drink because I was too sick.

  One day, I was just sitting on the side of my bed and a light bulb went off in my head and suddenly, I wanted to live!  It happened that fast!  I didn't know where this came from, at the time, I just knew right then that I didn't have to drink anymore.  It was a moment of clarity like none I had ever experienced before or after.  I started praying to my Almighty God for forgiveness and mercy and another chance at life.

  He gave me all that and more.  All I had to do was ask.  My life isn't perfect today, I still have my physical problems and life's ups and downs but it gets better every day, thanks to God, who is very much the center of my life today.  I am still growing and learning as I travel this road I have been given.  I am filled with a new gratitude and an awareness I never thought possible.  I have been given many blessed gifts, one of which is a book of my poetry which will be in print in a few months.  I have my family back now.  I have an Awesome Friend in my life who will never forsake me and loves me no matter what I do.  If He can do all this for me, just think of what He can do for you!  God bless!

Sharlette863 @aol.com


About Me:

I was born in Alabama, the middle of
seven children. At about age four we moved
to Central Florida and I have lived here
most of my life. I am a Viet Nam Era
Veteran. I have always enjoyed writing
and as I get older it seems to come more
naturally to me. I believe
everyone has many stories inside them and
some are blessed to be able to share them.