When enough desperation summons enough courage, and an addict enters a recovery meeting for the first time, they are often greeted with a half-filled cup of coffee. Half-filled, because unsteady hands may be trembling from withdrawal, making it easy for coffee to slosh over the rim.

The first sip, often a gentle slurp, marks a gateway to healing.

Emotional intoxication may not cause a trembling of the hands, but it certainly creates a trembling in the heart. When happiness is tethered to people and things outside oneself, another kind of desperation sets in—one that breeds resentment and loneliness, the common threads in all forms of addiction.

When the consequences of addiction become so grave that the addict is willing to try anything to change, we call that the "gift of desperation"—and this is where it all begins.

Our slogan “Slurp that Coffee!” honors the extraordinary gift of desperation, beginning with a gentle slurp of coffee from trembling hands and heart, and a a new life of recovery. I cannot express how humbled I am to get to share this experience with you.

Slurping with you,

Lori