Reaching Up For Air-Stories of Addiction By Women, For Women

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I'm dreaming.. maybe

I'm standing on the edge of a huge pool, at the deep end. The air around me is heavy and it is neither night nor day. The water is dark and still. My toes are just over the edge of the concrete. I fall in. There is no splash, no sensation of hot or cold, no ripples in the water. I just fall, silently, feeling a strange thickness envelope me.

In between the top and the bottom of the pool, I stop falling. I am suspended, perfectly still, not struggling for air. I look down. The bottom of the pool seems endless. It gets darker and darker the farther I look. There are no drains, no tiles. Just deep dark blue. I look up. The water gets lighter and lighter blue, fading into a crystal clear sheen as smooth as glass. I feel that my time is limited. That I have to make a choice.

There are only two. I can choose to continue to sink into the dark. To just let go and float down into the emptiness. Or, I can reach up with everything I am. There seems to be no time, no contemplation of a deadline, no fear.

I simply extend my arms upward. The water ripples, becomes cool against my skin, my hair waves around my head as I reach up, up, up.

I have made my choice.

Today is the beginning. I am reaching up for air

Across America, communities are mobilizing to build on HBO's groundbreaking series ADDICTION. Join Together, Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America (CADCA), and Faces & Voices of Recovery have united with HBO to promote the Addiction Project, which helps Americans understand addiction as a treatable brain disease, spotlights new treatment advancements, and provides hope for long-term recovery.

Visit www.AddictionAction.org to learn more about the project and find opportunities to mobilize your own community through house parties, Town Hall meetings, and other special community events already taking place in your area, or watch the series now.

Watch ADDICTION on HBO.com

The entire series -- all 14 films and more -- is available for free online viewing.

Rally For Recovery 2007

This site was created as a safe haven for intimate life stories of women who have suffered or who are suffering from the grips of addiction. This is not a site that recognizes one form of recovery over another. It doesn't matter how we sought out help. All that matters is we did. I am a wife, a mother. I am a everyday, average woman who thought I was alone in my battle. I now know I am not alone. I have a story to share. A lesson to perhaps give. I have hope.

I invite you, in any stage of your life, to openly share your experiences. You may share them in complete anonymity, you may share them openly. Allow the millions of women who are suffering or have suffered to know they are not alone. There is strength in joining together in any form.

Thank you for visiting.

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This Site Was Born March 25th, 2005

� Copyright 2006-2007 Reaching Up For Air All Rights Reserved
All material, design and content is prohibited from being used in any form without explicit permission. Authors retain all rights to their story submission. Reaching Up For Air is not responsible for illegally copied content. Information provided on this site is designed to support, not replace the relationship that exists between a person and their personal care provider