Anita,

I’m not sure when it started, but I first became aware of it in my teens; my best friend had been put in catholic school in 11th grade as we had been getting in trouble. On my 17th birthday she went snowboarding and hadn’t invited me….at that time we both had driver’s licenses and she had been like a sister. I went on vacations with her and her family and (felt I) was basically a part of their family. At that time I didn’t have many other friends. I began using distraction (in a very obvious, self destructive way) to fill it that void; men, vacations, extreme sports, etc. Since then I had not developed close relationships until the last 2-3 years while in AA.