Trish I can not fully relate to living on the streets, what I can relate to is being owned!
I can relate to any one who says that "If I have one drink, I have no idea when or were I will stop drinking."
I can relate to any one who says "I drank when I did not want to drink."
I can relate to any one who says "Alcohol was my life." I recall on numerous occassions stopping at the store to get a gallon of milk and a 12 pack, then finding out that I only had enough money for a 6 pack and a gallon of milk, well I put the milk back and bought the 12 pack.
I can relate to any one who says "I promised my family over and over again that I was going to stop and mean it from the bottom of my heart............. then wind up drunk again the very next day."
I can relate to any one who says "If I had my booze and nothing else I was happy."
I can relate to any one who says "I hated myself for not being able to quit drinking or stay stopped."
I can relate to any one who speaks of being anxious, irratable, and discontent when not drinking.
I can relate to any one who speaks of the shame and guilt eating them alive and the only escape was the oblivion alcohol gave them.
Trish relating to the alcoholism/addiction is imho what is crucial.
I stood right at the brink of losing all the material things and all the relationships I had left, but my bottom did not involve material things really, even though in the end I was able to see that if I kept on drinking that it all would be gone, my bottom was when I knew that I was going to die alone and drunk if I did not find a way to stop and stay stopped. I had a hole in my soul that alcohol could no longer fill.
Trish we are all different in so many ways, but there are the similarities that we relate to that allow us to find recovery and to help others find it as well.
Can I relate to a single mother, a rich person, a homeless person, a minister, a doctor.... no not really, but if they are alcoholics I can on that level and as a fellow human being.