jchaz, the same thing happened to me. 8 months sober, started drinking again slowly and then quickly and then destructively. It was very, very hard to quit again. But now I'm about to have one year sober. The good news is that once I did get sober again, it was so, so, so much easier than the first time. Now that I really know what happens when I drink again, I've been able to move on emotionally. I don't wonder anymore if it might be possible for me to drink in a fun and healthy way again. So I don't torture myself about it. I still had to go through (and still am) all of the difficulty of learning to live sober. Self examination, giant life changes, figuring out my beliefs about myself and the world, looking for meaning, all of that stuff. But I don't feel tempted to drink.
The getting stopped is so hard though. I empathize. I went to detox and then a month of inpatient ultimately. I just couldn't do it alone again, I was completely beyond the pale. But there are a lot of people on here that have successfully quit again after relapse using a variety of support methods, so my solution's not the only one.
After that first month, I have a pretty varied recovery program that includes AA but is more connected to support here, meditation, yoga, therapy, and other recovery groups (meditation centers often host support groups, for example).
Things are going really, really well for me. If I can do it, you can too. Glad to see you back!