another year older
 

yesterday was my birthday. i turned 51.

i quit drinking on september 8 of '09 so i had around 6 weeks under my belt when i turned 50. i decided to challenge myself and run a 5k that weekend. pretty stupid when you're not a runner.

i ran in the same race yesterday and felt much better as the body has healed so much in the one year (and month) of not drinking. i'm still no runner. i actually had not ran any since that race last year. but i can tell i have no poison in the system now.

a couple weeks ago my oldest son proposed to a young lady we love.

her family invited us over for dinner last night. we've met in the past but this is the first 'occasion' since we're official now. i was feeling a whole 'meet the fockers' vibe yesterday and didn't want to embarrass my son or future daughter in law.

they are really good people. honest hard working folks like my family. but fairly religious and totally non-drinkers.

it was a wonderful time. good food. good 'iced-tea'. as i sat chatting with the dad after the table was cleared i was so thankful that i had not been drinking that day.

and that i was not anxious to get home and get my drink on. i did nothing embarrassing to my son like show up with vodka breath.

folks. we have good days and bad days. we had those before we drank, when we drank and we have them after quitting too. but it feels so good to perform as a functional human being with nothing to alter us that i can't really put down the words to tell you.

it just feels good to be normal. and normal is our reset/default function. not 'with drink'....lol.

love always,

david.

Happy Birthday, David,

And congrats on your son's engagement! Happy news!

I'm so pleased your family is going to increase
and even better ..that y'all can get along.

Never been a runner David...but glad you are
getting health benefits with sobriety.


:bday:

You made your son proud. Doesn't get much better than that. :)

Happy birthday mate. Glad to hear that things are going really well for you and your family.

Nice one!!

Happy Birthday :) Glad you and your family are doing so well.

Thanks for that very inspirational post! It truly does feel better with all the poison out of our bodies and minds:)

Well done David and thx for sharing :)

I totally agree with you that the ups/downs of life are still there in sobriety but now we handle the way we should.

I sometimes reflect on the little things.....not being hungover, worrying about gargling to mask my breath or wonder if I was embarassing anyone around me.

Wonderful stuff and congrats on your awesome sobriety my friend!!

Happy birthday...

I am 53 this year... my daughter is home from college this weekend, God, I hate to see her go back but I'll be driving her to the train station later :(...

It is both difficult and wonderful to really be there for your own feelings, huh?

Keep runnin'... it is the fountain of youth.

Mark

BTW... doesn't seem like you are a fallen man these days! Awesome!

Happy Birthday and keep on running . I am just starting to run again . Well it is more like walk half the time run half of the time . It is a building process to get to where you want to be .

Happy Birthday and thanks for your message.:)

Thank you, David. That really encouraged me, since I've been a bit sorry for myself lately. I know I'm not missing out on anything by not drinking, but still there are those thoughts that come out of nowhere....

Happy B-day, and many more happy, healthy, sane ones to come!

Really great post. That's for the inspiration and Happy Birthday!!:day1

Happy Birthday David - and congratulations...on everything :)

D