Terror Doesn't Need Tequila

Jeannette knows fear first-hand because she also knows love -- unconditionally. Love and fear can magnify one another when they meet in our hearts at the same time.

She told us at A.A. last week that she very nearly relapsed and that she is extremely thankful she didn't. Her daughter, maybe 10 or 12, calls Jeannette every day after school. She tells if she is coming straight home or, sometimes, if she is stopping off at a friend's. One day she didn't call at all.

Jeannette called her daughter's phone. Again and again. No answer, Just voicemail. She called her older daughter, who didn't know where her sister could be. Jeannette called the police, who reassured her that the little girl was probably fine. They said to call back if she didn't hear from her for 24 hours.

Jeannette frantically called everyone she could think of who might know her daughter's whereabouts. Some neighbors dropped in to try to comfort Jeannette, who by this time was approaching delirium. Jeannette told the A.A. gathering she wanted tequila and she needed it bad. She hadn't had a drink for some time, but if ever she needed it, the time was now.

Her friends reminded her she was in A.A, and that she was beginning to do well in her sobriety. That didn't matter right then. She said she was desperate for something to ease the worry and the pain. She knew how sex traffickers preyed on little girls like her's. What if...?

Tequila. Please. She begged.

Eventually, her daughter appeared at the door, safe and unharmed. Jeannette cried uncontrollably and squeezed her baby in her arms, wishing never to let go.

"That moment of joy and relief wouldn't have been the same if I had taken a drink. I would have been so disappointed in myself if I hadn't stayed sober for that happy homecoming. My friends were right. I didn't need to drink, no matter how much I wanted to."