tg for small blessings.
 

today is day 27. i know it's trivial but i want to share some small blessings i've received by not drinking.

it's fall break for the students here. my youngest son, 17 was invited to go with a family to navarre beach in florida. the other boy is one of his best friends and the parents are top notch. i withdrew some money for his eats and listened to his plan.

they were leaving sat. morning around 4 am so his plan was to spend the night with them and leave out early. he told my wife he would just drive her van and leave it there for a week. these are somewhat wealthy people (very humble) and i knew they didn't want my ghetto-@ss van with no hubcaps in their driveway of their gated community....tho' they said no such thing. i told him...no, i'll take you.

being a typical 17 year old he was nowhere near ready friday evening. in the past, i would have been very upset. i would have come home from work...hit about 3 fingers worth of vodka and sat there and stewed at him and eventually yelled at him to get ready.

you see....i always planned on getting my drink on as soon as possible. but having a dui many years ago, i try not to drive with too much in me. 3 fingers and waiting on him would have been sufficient to hold me but i still would have been getting p!ssed at him taking so long. i know that is a pitiful example of a father but i'm just telling the truth.

i then would have driven him to their house, hoped i didn't get pulled over on the way there because tho' not drunk, i might have been pushing a legal dui. i would then try to thank them without getting too close so they couldn't smell the vodka and further embarrassing my son.

but.....thanks to s.r. and all of my friends helping me here, i did not drink. i calmly helped him get ready. loaded his stuff up and carried him to the friend's casa. drove home liesurely and read a novel on friday night. in the past, i would have started pounding the vodka as soon as i returned.

today i drove my wife to church then i did the grocery shopping. a huge hole in the checkbook but the cupboards were very nearly bare...lol. i started thinking that i have almost saved 240 dollars on vodka in the last 27 days so the grocery bill did not sting as bad as it normally does.

sorry this is so long but i wanted to share 2 small blessings that NOT drinking has given me. for all of you newest guys that are under a week. trust me, my first week was hell physically and mentally but it gets better every day.

sunday was a day i would start pounding the vodka as soon as i got up. i wouldn't have driven my wife to church and i wouldn't have grocery shopped. i would have been passed out on the sofa by now. yet i sit here, with totally clear faculties and enjoy the beautiful day.

these blessings are the same things you can look forward to if you can continue to say no. no risk at a dui and more money for things you really need....not want.

sincerely,

a fallen man (who is slowly picking himself up, thanks to you guys)

Beautiful! Your son is very lucky indeed.

Congrats on your sober time....it Rocks, doesn't it?!

Great Job. It kinda struck me as looking into a mirror and seeing me (only I'm female!)

Parenting is so much better sober! I bet your son and wife are very proud too.

:c011:

Great post AFM.
Thank you :)

D

Serenity rocks!

Great to see a Fallen Man getting back up :You_Rock_ and sober too :c032:

Keep on keeping on ;-)

hi fallen man,

thanks for the awesome post! i'm feeling the little blessings too. on day 26 and going strong. i'm reading again, watching movies again, loving again, seeing again... in short, living again. there's a whole world out there! there are cats and stars in the sky and good people and real conversations to be had and sunshine and coffee in the morning and no hangovers and just so much more time - cuz i'm not always picking myself up again from the last binge. life is good. who knew? i didn't. but i'm learning about it and really surprised as to how much i'm enjoying it.

thanks for your inspriring post! and thanks to all the sober recovery folks out there for the support and words of encouragement and hope.

who knew there was hope? i didn't. but there IS!

i'm very grateful too... :lightbulb

~888

awesome post there Fallen , gave me goosie bumps , I remember how wonderful it felt to be at the stage in recovery that you are in , And just think .. this is only the beginning its gonna get so much better your gonna have a perma grin on your face ,, ppl with think your high on something , but you wont be other the a natural high on life .. keep up the great work fallen , its great to hear wondeful shares like that , that can inspire and give others hope that it really does work !
Huggles Endzy :c014:

That's a great post!

I'm so glad to hear that you're doing well and feeling better.

There truly are so many blessings about being clean and sober. Thanks for the great reminder!:ghug3

thanks everyone for the kind words.

my wife doesn't really drive anymore due to low vision. she always has a person bring her home on sunday evenings. usually one of her friends or her mother.

this afternoon, i got a call from wal-mart and she needed me to come pick her up. it was around 4:30.

on a normal (actually abnormal but normal for former self) sunday i would have truly been hammered by that time. tho' i honestly didn't feel like driving into town, i was able to do so.

no potential dui. just a pickup and come home.

another benefit. i'm a 'dexter' and 'true blood' fan. couldn't wait for them on sunday night. i would usually pass out by sunday afternoon but get up in time to watch them (while pile-driving more vodka of course). of course when talking to co-workers the next morning, i'd try to pretend that i remembered what went on. anyone else done that???

i would end up watching it 'on demand' on monday afternoon before i got too blitzed so i would remember the facts of the show.

anyhoo....just finished watching this week's 'dexter'. i love that show. great episode. it's kinda surreal though....i believe he has an addiction that he can't stop.....lol.

Thanks for sharing with us....Congratulations
:funjump: