Gonnachange

I'm glad you had a great time. 300 people is a large wedding and I'm sure you made the right decision to attend even if there was some emotion after the affair. IMHO you supported your friend, faced your small town concerns head on which will only serve you and them to be more comfortable upon future meetings, and DO NOT EVER THINK that by posting about your personal experiences you are taking over my thread. I welcome the contributions.

Tonight

The evening went as expected. Me and my wife talked for a while and got some emotions settled. She then went to the gym after coming home. Relating to SR, there was no alcohol consumed and I'm now off to bed.

Gonnachange

Saw the vascular surgeon and at one point he said, "I don't know." I applaud his honesty and I'm glad that nothing serious is going on, but I was a little bewildered. We talked about some mitigation strategies, all of which I knew, and that was that other than him saying that I have no exercise restrictions. :-)

I'm busy tonight so I likely won't do anything until tomorrow when I move dear son home from his dorm. I'll start back on a regular lifting and running schedule on Friday.

Gonnachange

The moving of my son back home is now complete, if complete means everything is in the house, but most of it not where it needs to be for the next 3 months, and laundry needs to be done. :-) All went well, but one weird, or not, thing happened while I was going to get him. It's about a 2.5 hour drive, so there is plenty of alone time listening to music and barreling down the highway and about 45 minutes in a thought came to mind that even if I wanted to have a drink I wouldn't have access to alcohol for about 8 hours.

WTF? I haven't been thinking much about drinking lately and would have to make a large effort to remember the last one I had so I'm not sure where this came from. It wasn't as if I wanted a drink, not even close, just that IF I did it was not an option. The thought didn't last very long, but as this thread is a record of my journey I wanted to include it. Any all comments, as always, are welcome.

Going to be a quiet evening at home with my wife and son and my plan is to hit the gym between 8 and 9 tomorrow AM.

SoberLeigh

If you really delved deeply into your thought, you would finish that thought with "and I don't want one so no big deal" or "so thank God it's no longer an issue".

I say "no problem".

Gonnachange

SL, I appreciate you sharing your perspective. What struck me as odd was that I was engaged in an activity, driving to pick up one of my kids from college, that was never associated with alcohol so it wasn't like I was in a situation where alcohol previously would have been present. Maybe I had too much time for thoughts on my hands; regardless I'm not making too much of it, as you suggested, because it wasn't as if I wanted anything other than the cold water in my sports bottle.

Della1968

I have thoughts at weird times...never when one would expect.

I am heading your way yet again but this time to Asbury Park. I think I will enjoy this much more than Perth

Gonnachange

As you know I've never been to Perth Amboy, but I can write with surety that Asbury is nicer. It's a bit odd in that there are still some rundown areas around the boardwalk, but also some good restaurants. It's clearly a town in transition that hit some road bumps from the recession and Hurricane Sandy. Some of the towns around there are really nice.

To the north Long Branch has a cluster of nice restaurants on the ocean and, if you go there you'll pass through Deal, which has no boardwalk or commercial activity, but if you're looking to buy a house costing eight figures you'll be able to find one. Just make sure you invite me. :-) To the nearby south, maybe about 5 miles, is Spring Lake which is a very pretty town.

Other than visiting friends, the last time I was in that general area was in the spring of 2013 when I ran the NJ Marathon. At that time the boardwalks, beaches, and many homes were still devastated from the hurricane, but from what I've heard there's been a lot of reconstruction.

Gonnachange

The last Friday of every month an acquaintance of ours and his band play at a local bar so that's where we'll be tonight along with some friends. My plan is the same one as it's been of late: club soda. Tomorrow there's an outdoor music festival in town that has as its main sponsor a bar. Same M.O. Just as I was not too concerned about the Memorial Day weekend parties, I'm comfortable with what I'm about to experience and am looking forward to listening to some good music, hanging with good friends, being sober, and waking up tomorrow morning clear headed and ready to go for a run before the temperature gets too high.

Gonnachange

Hmmmm...I wrote a post, but must have left it in Preview because it's not here. Round two.

Last night went as planned with the exception that we were out much later than anticipated. We were only going to stay for the first set, but stayed for the entire show. Consequently we got a later start to today than normal, but the big takeaway is that I had nothing stronger than club soda with lemon. This afternoon we're going to the local music festival I mentioned and I'm confident that I'll easily stick to my plan of only having water or club soda. Tonight is going to be a quiet one so I should be in fine shape to wake up early (and sober) tomorrow and go on a five mile run before the temperature gets too hot.

Gonnachange

My wife and I recently got back from spending a couple of hours at the music festival. All went as planned; my wife had one beer which was one more than me. :-) A minor bonus for us and the environment was that we rode our bicycles to the venue instead of driving.

Gonnachange

Just checking in. All is good. Did stuff around the house yesterday for a couple of hours and smoked a killer rack of ribs for dinner last night; today started off at the gym, worked up until recently, and tonight we'll be having pistachio encrusted salmon and a salad for dinner. Plans are for a quiet night at home.

SoberLeigh

Hey'ya, GC; how are you?

Gonnachange

Hi SL! I'm doing well; thanks for asking. Some slight cravings here and there, but nothing terrible. I got through dinner in Manhattan on Wednesday with no problem and I'm anticipating more of the same at tonight's graduation party.

My sleep has been a little erratic, but that's almost normal for me, so while I'm presently feeling the T in HALT, I'm aware of it and it's nothing that's going to cause me to make a poor decision.

Gonnachange

Off to my cousin's graduation party. I have my game plan in place which includes getting up early-ish tomorrow for a 4 mile run.

SoberLeigh

Enjoy, GC!!!

Gonnachange

We stayed later than we thought we would at the party for good reasons and then hit some traffic on the way home due to construction so I'm up WAY later than I anticipated. My run tomorrow is not going to be happening as early as I hoped and there's some potentially big changes to tomorrow's schedule, but after I post this and go upstairs I know I'm going to bed sober so all is good.

Gonnachange

I'm definitely off kilter today due to staying up so late, but as the day progresses I'm sure things will normalize.

About last night's graduation party, I wanted to add that I found it fairly easy to stick with water/club soda, but there were a couple of times I had to consciously think about the decision process. I hope to one day be able to move on from that, just as I'm able to get through my day without thinking about "insert addictive drug of choice here". Small steps I guess and I'm not complaining.

We have no social plans tonight; we may pay a visit to my inlaws, but regardless of whether that comes together or not it's shaping up as a quiet Saturday night.

SoberLeigh

Good going, GC. (I order my sparkling water with gusto, now; I really look forward to it; I truly don't even think about the wine list, etc.; it will happen for you).

I can't stay up all that late any longer; it takes me forever to recover.

A quiet Saturday is just what the doctor ordered.

Della1968

Same here if I stay up too late now I feel yucky the next day...almost hungover. Glad you are going to have a relaxing evening.

Gonnachange

Believe me, I "can't" stay up that late any more either. I did because of circumstances, but it's definitely negatively impacted our Saturday so far. We'll be fine and back on track with a quiet evening tonight.

Our 8 AM run still hasn't happened :sigh:, but we'll probably be moving in about 30 minutes.