Daily Dose of Dr Marry & DD—alcoholism, recovery and marriage insights

09/01/2025

Dr Marry and I enjoyed a packed NA tasting at Bernie’s Wines and Liquor last night. We loved that so many people were interested in tasting these products, and we loved that there were so many samples to try!

We came home with some new products, and that's super exciting!

08/01/2025

Hello and happy new year!

This is Dayna, and I'm launching a new podcast on Sunday called Brave Middle Ground: Fostering conversations that spark understanding and bridge divides.

This was born out of my frustration at the November election, among other challenges, and the ways we are isolated and lacking in community.

To be the first to hear the inaugural conversation, sign up for my newsletter at daynadelval.com/newsletter.


But you can watch clips of the first 4 conversations right here.

I think the second one will be particularly interesting for our Daily Dose audience as it's with Dr. Adi Jaffe, founder of IGNTD recovery and author of the brand new book, Unhooked, Free Yourself from Addiction Forever.

I hope you'll sign up for my newsletter, tune in to the conversations and share your thoughts. Community is only built when we engage with each other.









https://daynadelval.com/brave-middle-ground-podcast/

Launching January 12, 2025 Mission: Fostering conversations that bridge isolation and build meaningful community in an increasingly polarized world. Key Values: Empathy: Sharing emotionally resonant stories that inspire broader perspectives Curiosity: Exploring social challenges through a variety of...

30/10/2024

Proud to join Dr Marty at Recovery Reinvented North Dakota’s 8th conference.

12/10/2024

So much to celebrate: This week, Dr Marry became the interim chair of the Anthropology & Earth Science department, in addition to continuing to chair the Biological Sciences department at Minnesota State University Moorhead. And I am back from an extraordinary speaking retreat week.

Stopped off at Drawing Room Fargo to celebrate with pretty NA drinks. 😋

14/09/2024

Perhaps you think a place like Italy is no place for you since you don't drink alcohol anymore.

When you join us for a (re)Discover Your Spark travel experience, our fabulous mixologist makes sure that all cocktail events also provide signature NA cocktails, too.

AND, you're not alone because, as you know, Dr Marry doesn't drink either.

If you've wanted to make a trip like this but have been afraid to try it, this is the PERFECT opportunity to say yes.

We'll be right there to support you, to encourage you and to hand you a beautiful NA drink.

And you'll get to (re)Discover Your Spark or (re)Discover Your Couple's Spark together in beautiful Florence with us!







*Alcohol will also be served during our events, and we obviously can't control the alcohol served outside of our time together, so do be aware of both those things.

SEE THE NEW DATES!!!!! Join us in Florence May 2025 | Individuals: May 27-30 & Couples: June 1-4 ↓↓↓The Early-Bird rates end TONIGHT, Sept 7, at midnight↓↓↓ At the Piazzale Michelangelo overlooking beautiful Florence. And YOU are invited! Imagine yourself/you & your partner in Florence, ...

17/08/2024

Dr Marry and I both thoroughly enjoyed our NA hibiscus lemon martini made with Seedlip Drinks Spice at the beautiful Little Pearl in Washington, DC.

19/07/2024

Fun to try out the new Drawing Room Fargo with our son and his girlfriend. Dr Marry and I both had excellent NA cocktails, and, they are listed in their own category. Good job, Drawing Room. Way to !!!!!

10/07/2024

We went back to Maui specifically because Dr Marry wanted to experience it sober. Turns out, we took a lot more from it than just that.








https://daynadelval.com/2024/06/29/reflections-on-resilience-finding-strength-and-joy-on-mauis-shores/

Go back and revisit your younger self. Marvel at your naïveté and optimism, tremble at what you know is coming and, most importantly, celebrate what you’ve overcome, what you are overcoming.

29/06/2024

We’ve been in Hawaii for over a week, first on Oahu and now on Maui where we haven’t been since 2009. We came back to this island because Dr Marry wanted to experience it sober.

We’ve done and seen many lovely things, but, most importantly of all, we found the beach where we walked every morning to watch the sun rise the first time we came here, in March 2009, for our family honeymoon.

We stood on that beach tonight and both marveled at where we’ve been and what we’ve survived since we last stood on that sand.

They say you can’t go back again, but sometimes you can get pretty darn close, and the memories evoke the emotions you felt at the time, recall the highs and lows of the journey and remind you to be grateful every single day for everything you have. 💖

Photo captions: 3 shots from Maui 2009 and the picture taken last night from almost exactly the same place as the photo of Dr Marry and our son Quinn above, 15+ years apart.

11/06/2024

Lucky for us, we're going to DC in August, so we'll be sure to check out Binge Bar and report back!

Vergie Arandid opened Binge, a nonalcoholic bar in Washington, D.C., to create a space for others who are sober.SUBSCRIBE to GMA https://bit.ly/2Zq0dU5 To re...

09/05/2024

This photo appeared in my memories from 7 years ago and is one of my favorite photos ever taken of us, but not for the reasons you might think.

What I've never said about this picture is that it's the first picture taken of the three of us after Mazz got sober, two months earlier.

Quinn was 21-years old and well on his way to adulthood. He had just gotten home from his junior year of college, and I had a work event that I invited them both to join me at.

By February 2017, Mazz and Quinn's relationship was virtually nonexistent. They were living very separate lives, and I was jockeying back and forth between them.

But by the time this picture was taken in May 2017, Mazz and Quinn had started to find their own way back to a relationship that mattered to both of them.

I will be forever grateful that both these extraordinary men chose to re-invest in each other and start a new journey that made space for me, too. 💖💖

23/04/2024

April is Alcohol Awareness month, and I was honored to host two conversations around it. The earlier was with North Dakota's First Lady Kathryn Burgum (you can find it when you go to the link below), and today's is with Concordia College's Professor Greg Carlson. I so appreciate both of them and hope that you do, too.

- Rachel Getting Married https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1084950/ - When a Man Loves a Woman https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0111693/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1 - 28 Days htt

07/02/2024

Am going to periodically start re-sharing past conversations we had with brave people like First Lady Kathryn Burgum on Daily Dose of Dr Marry & DD—alcoholism, recovery and marriage insights. Every single one of these meant so much to us. Every single story matters and every single person who chooses to recover out loud means that perhaps one other person can find the strength to get the help they need, too.

Since becoming First Lady of the great state of North Dakota, Kathryn Burgum, has made ending the shame and stigma of addiction her platform. She started the...

01/02/2024

To celebrate 7 years of glorious sobriety, we enjoy cheese (and meat for Dr Marry) from .fargo, homemade bread and NA cocktails from ISH and lime.

Here’s to many, many more years of sober bliss!

01/02/2024

Seven years ago tonight, I went to bed alone while Dr Marry sat downstairs and nearly bled to death from a 14-hour nosebleed that would not stop.

In just a few hours from now, he will wake me up and insist we go to the ER. He will be gone for six and a half weeks. He will leave our home a shell of the man I married; I’m a shell, too.

All that comes next will be devastating, hard, joyful, terrifying, sad, rage-filled, hopeful, hopeless, full of despair, love rebuilt and more.

If you are living in shame and isolation, know that it can be different. You don’t have to continue down that path. There is the possibility of a light at the end of the tunnel…even if it’s an incredibly long way off yet.

Shame at what's weighing you down breeds an almost frenzied desire to isolate. Mustn’t be discovered by everyone else, by anyone else–no one will understand what you’re going through; shame convinces you that you are the only person who has “failed” in this way, fallen down or been dragged...

28/01/2024

It's time for the annual posting of this photo.

In case you knew us then and have forgotten how bad it was or if you don't know us personally but think, "Well, how bad could it have really been?" I present the final photo taken of us before we went to the ER in the early morning hours of Feb 1, 2017.

Short answer: it was bad.

Longer answer: I will always be grateful that we have this photo because even I can get hazy on just how bad it really was.

I can only appreciate what we have today because we were once this.

This photo ushers in the beginning of what was the end of Dr Marry's gripping addiction to alcohol and my despair at our failing marriage.

I will post this photo every year because it reminds me of where we were and how far we've come.

I just told Dr Marry earlier this week that I certainly remember moments and feelings from before he got sober, but largely, when I think back on that time, I have to remind myself that that was us.

This photo proves that those people were us. But they are not a version of us that exists any longer. Those two people were living in isolation, shame and fear...even from each other.

If you see yourself in this photo, hold on. There can be another version of you if you're willing to ask for help, do the work and step away from whatever is dragging you down.

Life was so hard on the day this photo was taken; it's so beautiful today. And it can be for you, too.

Dr Marry and I are rooting for you!

27/01/2024

Dr Marry tells his story with such grace and dignity. This aired at the October Recovery Reinvented North Dakota conference, and the audience was as moved as I was.

If you need an example of what’s on the other side of addiction, despair and shame, watch this and take the first step. We didn’t know how Mazz was going to do it, but he did, and that has made all the difference. You can do it, too.

Mazz's story was featured at Recovery Reinvented 2023. Video by Cody Harmon, Scratch Media