Stay sober this weekend July 17th until...
 

The weekender is here again? Yup. As long as weekends exist there will be the need to stay sober during them. And we have a reason to meet up and live them to our sober fullest!

Welcome newbies! Jump on the sober bus for a wild weekend ride!

A rather simple and unassuming start with our weekender moment of clarity....

*Ring Ring*

What does it mean? In the words of Mecanix...

“The first bell is the bell of mindfulness, calling to me and you.

It says stop what am i doing right now, take some breaths, feel my body, am I holding it tight and tense? Relax… calm down… life is a journey and not a destination, make the journey as glorious as possible.

The second bell is the freedom bell and I'm ringing it for you to let you know freedom from drink and drugs is available to you, come and hear us calling out to you.

:bus:bus:bus:bus:bus

Ken

One ticket please for the sober bus!

Why certainly Meraviglioso! Welcome aboard!

Dont know if im going to manage it but im here today.

Can I call shotgun?? What's the rules???

Still mostly asleep this early Thursday morning, but wanted to climb aboard on the first page!
:)

Here!

I believe whoever calls shotgun first gets it.
I also believe that the weekender helped me last weekend even though I wasn't 'here' physically. There were too many times I just felt that I should be 'allowed' to drink during my trip. You guys got me through it.

Wishing everyone a great weekend!
Say, Meraviglioso, next time say Fucile da caccia!!! (I hope I said that right).

Marathon man.... Please consider sharing what's going on for you. Sounds like a tough time and the more we understand what you are going through the more we can help you know you are certainly NOT alone in this. We know what being in tough times are like.

Trees has shotgun!!!!!! Pssst.... There are five buses so perhaps more than one shotgun... I just sayin. :D

LB.... I am so darn happy for you that you valued yourself enough to stay sober. That's big. I always felt the real test of my sobriety was not when I knew I could not drink. But when I knew I could and no one would know. Once I started to realize my opinion mattered things changed for me. Welcome back Sir and glad to have you with us!

Olive? First page? What?

Della Della Bo Bella

And we have the lunar-tic!?!

At my desk ready for a good day. Gym done and I feel fine.

got a full day planned, took a nap yesterday and found myself waking up to dark outside, then slept thru the nite.

washed sleeping bags and have them on the line from yesterday, now to wash clothes, rinse off pfd's and a bunch of stuff, try to get the sand out of the jeep and wash it, the usual ...

oh, I came home with one extra tarp and one less tent. After the tent support rod broke I was able to rig it, the next day it broke again so I wrapped it with mason's string - lashed - and then wrapped it in duck tape.
When we was leaving I suggested we pack up the tent and "forget it". someone will think they scored a tent. I thought about selling it for cheap. Then just decided to cut the bottom out of it to use for a tarp or extra bottom for the next tent. We decided we would still be tent campers for a time to come. But doing a cost analysis will prove that traveling lite and staying in cheap motels might actually be cheaper.

oh, saw this guy on our hike around Eagle Lake... looks like a stern look from one of Trachemys pals.

Great Turtle Pic!

Which - given how we all band together here to get through this thing called 'Life' - caused the Song linked below to pop into my Head. Happy together, we are. Well, most of the time.

We're Camping tonight, after evacuating this House of ~28 years, at a nice local Motel. High speed Wi-Fi, and a large Flat Screen. Dinner at 'The Outback', since we've not been there fo evah. Dinner there was always a hit with Japanese Biz Visitors because Beef is way expensive in The Land Of The Rising Sun. That Cultural aspect, along with the average Tokyo Apartment being ~20' square, would take some adjusting to.

Good House Packing progress yesterday, and fairly low stress, actually. At this stage, I'm pretty happy with bubbly Grape Juice, come time to celebrate. I also customarily ask a Bartender what Booze-free Foof Drinks they can whip up. A lil Umbrella in something I've never tasted before, and I'm happy.

All the Guano - yes, that Guano - that you never get around to while living in a Joint has been taken care of, sans a few niggling bits I'll knock off today. And, who says the 'Net is a waste of time? I learned more yesterday about The History Of Guano, while waiting to pick up Moving Boxes, than I ever knew before!

This fab Golden Retriever Vid is an absolute look-alike/act alike to our 6 year-old, four-legged Kid. Complete with going and 'retrieving' an identical red Ball when he's excited. Warms the proverbial Cockles of my Heart. Whatever Cockles are, eh? Ruby2, we're counting on ya to fill us in on The History Of Cockles!-)

- Golden Retriever Welcomes Home Soldier Owner -

- 'Happy Together' ~ The Turtles ~ The Ed Sullivan Shew
.

I'm in, although will not be about much as off on vacay for 2 weeks.

Weekend again..? Already..?! I'm in. :)

Riding the roof feeling that summer breeze

IN

I'm in. Good to see everyone this morning. Good to see everyone. I sort of slept in on this day one of the weekend.

Brain, there have been times just knowing the weekenders were out there and not wanting to disappoint them, that made me rethink drinking. The connections forged here have saved my bacon.

There, it's been officially mentioned.

I'm meeting a friend at an AA meeting at 10:30. After I drop the kids at camp. They want to stay home and have a day off because I'm going to be around but today is just for me. They can have tomorrow off. And we'll do something. Maybe the zoo.

But I'm going to lay back down for a moment.

thanks for the song inspiration Ruby!

It seems my neighbor did not fully understand the concept of picking zucchini on a regular basis. We have a bout 20 pounds of giant yellow and green monsters. Wife picked 2 quarts of blueberries. I'm sure some peas are ready... also a shopping day for eggs and stuff...
Came in to check weather forecast... looks like all the rain we had last week is gone - yard is a jungle once again...

http://www.soberrecovery.com/forums/...ml#post5449571

Not sure how this got by me, a postcard I sent to Olive from Russia

this wiki link explains it a little, I didn't want to post other links but if you want to search there is a lot of info and other photos... trip advisor etc.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bakhch...Cave_Monastery

I'm in!

It's test day. The old drunk brynn would never have considered going back to school. She had no motivation, no hope for the future, and of course it would have interfered with her drinking time.

I'm so grateful for the freedom sobriety has given me!

Have a great day y'all!!
Xoxo