Hi everyone,
Just wanted to introduce myself. I've been reading posts for a couple of weeks, but haven't contributed yet.
I'm a 36yo F, mother of 2 boys, wife of a wonderfully supportive man. 4 months ago I was a daily morning til night drinker, and had been for nearly 7 years....my life was falling apart. It was a full time job and daily challenge to get through each day and be a decent mommy.
Finally, when I was really hitting bottom, my work was suffering, and I was exhausted to the point of collapse, some friends and my husband confronted me and convinced me to check into an inpatient program. From there I went for 2 weeks of outpatient rehab, and today I am 112 days sober.
I go to AA three times a week and have met some great people, I list what I am grateful for daily and thank my higher power (my mom) each night for all that I have and for keeping me sober. My husband made a picture frame in which he puts each of my monthly AA chips and it hangs proudly on the wall in our house. My sons (ages 8 and 15) are proud of me too, and that helps me get through some of the harder moments. I don't want to let them down. My brothers, sisters and friends all love me (although at times I don't understand why) and I feel like I am trying to make up for lost time with them....for years I neglected almost everything and chose drinking instead.
It is definitely difficult - I almost relapsed at a cookout a couple of weeks ago - but there are definitely more good days than bad ones and I am thankful that I have people in my life who care about me enough to have helped me get to this point. I have successfully gotten through my first vacation without drinking (and had more fun than I ever could've thought possible), attended my first wedding sober, etc, etc. Lots of firsts. I have found that I can do things sober that I always thought I "needed" a few drinks for.
I am glad to have found this site and hope it will be another help for me in staying sober.
Happy Wednesday everyone!
Ann