The first phone call was to a dear, close family member. While I won't pretend to recall the conversation word for word, I just remember crying harder than I had in a really long time, after years of numbing my feelings. I also remember her asking me what I thought was causing all the problems in my life and, for the first time ever, admitting out loud to another person it was drugs and alcohol.
A day or two later, I called someone I considered one of my best friends growing up, but who I had grown apart from, mainly because they got sober maybe a year or so before. A few days later, he picked up the phone and said, "So you're finally sick of the nonsense, huh?"
Truer words had never been spoken. I can still hear my friend saying them out loud for the first time. He ended up taking me to my first meeting. While I won't pretend that I've miraculously lived every day of my life clean and sober since, I can tell you with great certainty that this friend and that phone call, without a doubt, saved my life -- or at the very least gave me a shot at one worth living again.
