Dee74

Never heard that song before TN - mustn't have been a hit here

Hope you feel better soon Jeni - I'm getting there

D

FrenchPink

Good Wednesday evening, my wonderful May boaters! Day 102 for this Pink Pach. I hope everyone is having a good and sober day today. Finally got my nickel tooter (horn) back from the repair shop today so I can shut the case latches on the old brass clunker backup…which actually has a richer sound, but the nickel one is more responsive in the higher registers.

Dee: Much love to you, sobermate. I’m glad you’re coming along better in your health. I was missing your posts of wisdom to our classmates.

Dweller: “Don't be too disturbed. All the ladies think of me this way.” Oh, yes, and I'll bet there is not a one of us boaters who isn’t utterly awestruck by a cyber image of your smokin’ hotness. Oddly, the whole naked cowboy deal conjures up thoughts of one of the Village People. Ummm, your audience is who on this topic again? Love you, sober poem mate. Thank you again for being around last night while I needed my May peeps.

Saskia: Congratulations on your Day 5! Thank you for your PMs of support and your fun pokes and prods at my elephantonian characteristics. “Now when I feel something said was negative to me, I take a moment to decide if there's any truth to it and if so, try to work on that. If I don't feel it fits, I mostly shrug it off.” Love this! Thank you fo being around for me last night.

Bionic Lee: Congratulations on your Day 5! “....nothing like fresh starts!” Right on, May mate. New thread part, new sober resolve. Keep up the great work!

Councilman Uninvited: 5 miles and signing up for a half marathon? That’s terrific, classmate, you continue to be my exercise hero! Hang in there with the parents.

Thursday: You do have the loveliest way with words! Thank you for such a heartfelt welcome back to Dee, and well said. Thank you, too, for your regular PMs of loving support and fun. “It's late over there on the East Coast! And you have work tomorrow!” Hmmm. I don’t have the same feeling of committing bold incorrigibility as when our stern Teacher Jeni throws it down. Thank you for your presence last night.

(((Jeni))): Huge hugs of love and support to you. I am sorry you’re not feeling well. So difficult to accept that alcohol can do so much physical damage to us that won’t heal. I used to have terrible stomach issues and the nastiest acid reflux that was all caused by too much wine too often. “You are all so very important to me, and I feel very lucky to have found you…” Well said, girlfriend. I agree with you 100 percent. “Stubbornness, that's another one of my many character defects…” Ha! I wear that trait like a badge of pride! Thank you for your kind words to me last night.

You-Rock: Thank you for your support and PMs. “Deserto… Did you write a new verse?” I think you’re referring to my post on elephant braying. In his last slapdown, Dawg had written, “…And no matter how much you've brayed…” hence, the reference to what turns out to be an accurate assessment of my vocal skills in song. “Even that nudist elephant is wearing clothes…” I may be the prude-est nudist elephant you’ll ever meet, sobermate.

Emily: Congratulations on Day 32! Hugs to you while you have so many different events occurring all at once. I am proud of you for staying so strong. “And feel free to talk about your worries.” Thank you for writing that to me…for me. Pleasant dreams, and see you in the morning. Much love to you.

OneLess: I love your posts, girlfriend. “Two pictures for FP, one male and one female!!” Well, for you humans, I think the only noticeable characteristic is in the physical size difference between a male and female elephant. “I feel like not drinking is becoming part of my M.O., my default.” That’s wonderful, OneLess! I hope you can find a way to read/post more if you want to and need to... certainly, we love it when you do. I feel it’s super important in my continued sobriety. Hugs to you.

Soleil: Welcome back from your camping trip! Excellent that you made it through with your sobriety intact. Can't wait to hear more about your adventures.

Sir Super-Crew: Where did you go, classmate? I spoke with both drawbridge operators who said they did not spy your uber-knightliness this weekend atop your great white steed waiting to cross the moat to our Castle of May. Please grace us with a post stamped with your wax seal of royal crest… by stagecoach or fleet-footed messenger, as necessary.

Thank you, everyone, for your kind words and encouragement late last night – or early morning, as time zones dictate. I realize that I really did need to reach out and talk about it, even though I’m much more accustomed to toughing it out on my own and hiding, instead. You all helped me tremendously in grappling with the inevitable. I am calmer today and trying my best to be both positive and matter of fact about what’s to come. It will most definitely be a life changer for me, both in the trying emotional sense, but more importantly and urgently, in the physical sense of reclaiming normalcy.

I’ve decided to talk with my bosses on Monday about taking time off sooner, rather than waiting until December. It’s not the toll of the mental waiting game as much as it is the undeniable medical need to put the brakes on the progression of my malady. Ugh. And I sure as hell can’t drink anything with an impending procedure, so if nothing else, that will keep me in sober check most decidedly.

Congratulations to those in continued sobriety as well as those making today their first sober day. I’m still working on that beast of a numbers project for work, so I’ll be around and online sporadically tonight. Love and hugs to all.

Deserto

This I bank on. Or cling to.

Darn you, Elephant! Now I'll have "YMCA" stuck in my head for the whole evening!

Dang it, here comes "In the Navy" too!

FrenchPink

How are you doing tonight, poem mate? How is Rational Recovery working out for you?

Deserto

I'm doing well, FP. Big shifts happening. I feel like I am finally seeing the extent to which drinking has also messed with my perceptions of reality, and am coming to accept that and also move beyond it. If alcoholics are selfish, and I'm an alcoholic, then... oh goodness. But worth looking at and examining.

FrenchPink

Glad to hear you're doing well and making good progress. I agree with your statement on drinking morphing our personal perceptions. I approach situations and people in a completely different way than I used to, and that may also be in no small part to just plain feeling lousy (hungover, headaches, lack of real sleep, dehydrated, etc.) for so many years. Also amazing how strongly the brain is affected and still needs time to readjust long after the drinking has stopped.

Deserto

It seems to me that sobriety is a bit like learning an instrument, or developing other skills. I remember when I was fifteen and teaching myself to play drums, how I would hit certain plateaus that would last for weeks and weeks until I was almost bored with the instrument. And then -- wham! -- you'd figure out a whole new level of how you could play the instrument, and everything was exciting again. It was like one single insight (or technique) suddenly brought you to a higher plateau. You knew that plateau was there, but it felt like you'd never get there -- and then, there you were!

I loved that feeling. Still do.

Deserto

Worth noting, too, how often those breakthroughs would come from watching other people play. We need mentors in everything we do.

FrenchPink

Yes. In the literal sense of playing an instrument, I learn so much faster from hearing a composition played by a professional as it should be performed. Helps that I am privileged to meet with a semi-professional hornist duet partner a couple of times a month to assist me with the finer points of technique, too. Kind of like getting support for sobriety from our classmates, and our sage leader, Dee, instead of stumbling through this alone.

So, what I'm really trying to say here, Dawg, is that I'm more than happy to be your mentor for slapdowns.

Deserto

Humility is a virtue only in those who have no others.

One day you, too, will be a master, young Pachyderm.

FrenchPink

More howlin', whinin', and big smack talk from Master Po. I eagerly await your next rap attempt, poem mate.

Jeni26

Morning!!! Suppose you've all gone to bed now? Honestly, I'm going to emigrate to the US. This is ridiculous!
Day 90! How the hell did I ever get this far?! It is truly a miracle.
Thankyou guys, no word of a lie if it wasn't for you all I wouldnt be here to tell the tale....
You are simply the craziest most lovely bunch of people that I couldn't live without xxxxx

FindingSoleil

Good morning Jeni! Happy 90 Days!! Huge congratulations on a hard-earned milestone!!
Well done Hope you have a wonderful day and do something special for yourself.

HitRockBottom70

Congratulations on 90 days Jeni!!!

Jeni26

You are so lovely guys! I'm quite emotional today, guess I never thought in my wildest dreams I'd get this far. It seems a miracle!

Soberjanedoe

Congratulations Jeni! 90days!!!!

Day 103 for me. I found out I got a 95% for my Biology exam, 94 on chem and 95 on bio. I'm very proud of myself!

The weather is heating up in my part of the world and my brain is going to "perfect beer weather or perfect cocktail weather" yesterday I was craving a cocktail so bad I could taste it in my mouth. I didn't crave the alcohol, I just wanted the cocktail. I need to develop a sober summer drink.

Saskia

Congratulations on 90 days, Jeni!!!

One of the things you'd miss if you moved here is your lovely English garden oasis! How about instead if we move over there? Your H might not appreciate this rag-tag sober bunch in "his" well-manicured little slice of heaven ;-)

Keep up the great work - you are an inspiration!

Saskia

Day 6. So far I'm keeping up with bionic Lee! Gotta run - time for work. Back this evening to drop some more of those dusty pearls of (wisdom?). Ok, try not to groan too much :-)

Jeni26

Hi Jane. Yes, I know what you mean, the only time I miss a drink now is when we're having a BBQ. Something about sitting in the sun and relaxing that brings on those thoughts. It still seems a bit strange to do that minus alcohol. I haven't really thought of an alternative that cuts it for me do I tend to stick to water. A bit boring.
You have done fantastically well in your exams, well done. See? All that worrying? And you sailed past it all xx
I just had another 'first'. Went to see the doc and he asked me how much I drink. For the first time in my life I didn't lie to him!! Felt so good to say I don't drink anything. I was feeling so proud of myself until the next question...do you smoke? Slipped straight back into lying to his face. So ok, am going to tackle the smoking next.... This is going to be a very tough one indeed!!x

MalkavianEmily

Day 33, and it's looking not so bad weather wise. Which is good. It should be a nice quiet relaxing day. Not much to do. Or rather there is a fair amount to do, but today seems like a good day to pause for breath. So that's what I'm going to do.
Well, that and pack some more of mum's clothes...
Hopefully I'll be able to send the big telly off with mum. She'll like having something she can actually see.

That pain in my left leg has come back again. The doctor gave me gabapentin for it a while back, and I can't remember how much I'm supposed to take (or how often) so I don't know if I take enough as it doesn't help much.

But yes, it's a good day. And I need to remember that. I have a lot to be grateful for, and I am grateful. Am I taking my recovery for granted? I don't think so. I know I need to put the work in. Make an effort. But at the same time, I need to relax a little.

Jeni - congratulations on day 90

FP - Good on you for talking to your boss. It's better to get things dealt with now rather than waiting till things blow up. Which is what I did at the last place I worked. I could tell that my head was in a bad place, and while I mentioned it to my boss, nothing happened until I started biting everyone's head off. Stress and depression... not good.

Deserto - learning about ourselves is always good. It may be painful, but it helps in the long term if we take onboard what we find out.

Saskia - congratulations on day 6. And no need for question marks after the word wisdom, May mate.

As for me, I'm going to do a little more sorting through drawers.
Have a good day folks. Take care, be kind to yourselves. And remember, even at its worst, life sober is better than life drunk at its best.
Love and Hugs to you all.