SoberLeigh

Sunset was very non-dramatic but the night sky was very nice. We spotted Mars, Jupiter and Saturn and, of course, an almost full moon. We watched as two satellites seemed to cross paths. It was a lovely three hours spent on the beach with friends, while managing to social distance. Despite the social distancing, the sound of the surf, the whisper of constant pleasant breeze (and our aging hearing - ha ha), we still managed to hear each other, have great conversations and have a great evening.

Kaily

Well done to everyone on their achieved sobriety, be it years, months, weeks, or just starting out. We are all equal in our desire to never drink again and the challenges that can bring.

Leigh that sounds like a perfect way to spend an evening. I wish I was there.

Lunar I love that Jobu has some companions. Remind him we mustn't eat our friends else we won't have them anymore.

The forecast is for a very wet windy weekend. I think I need to take up knitting or similar before I go completely stir crazy, sell all my furniture, buy dodgy dogs and generally look for quick fixes to my diminishing mood.

Mags1

Kaily, a hobby is a good idea. Or a new puppy. My hubby’s been thinking about a puppy. He’s wanted one for a few years now but it wasn’t right whilst we were working. Whether he’ll go through with it, I dunno. I’m sure my cats will enjoy playing with a new friend.

Leigh, marvellous to watch the sunset. There’s some amazing colours in the skies at the minute.

saoutchik

Good to see you bandicoot2.

Your evening sounds perfect Leigh. Stargazing and Planet watching are not possible where I live even when there are clear skies due to the tall buildings and light pollution.

I expect all of has have entertained the idea of drinking moderately again even if only briefly but a minute's closer analysis reveals the flawed logic of those thoughts. Like a broken non-return valve it makes no difference if it is left for a week, a month or 5 years, it will still be broken.

Wise words Kaily.

Kaily

Puppies, at the moment Mags are a hot commodity, selling for anything from £1000 to £4000. I fear the puppy farmers are getting very rich. I am considering another dog and have been to visit a few but it needs to be right for both me and Alfie. Most sell within hours of being put up for sale and rescues are inundated with applications. Seems lots of people think a pandemic is a good time to get a dog.

Yesterday I did a 4 hour round trip to see a poor little 8 month old dog that is already on her fourth home. I went for all the wrong reasons, I felt sorry for her and got blinded to anything else. I very nearly bought her home- for a lot of money I might add, but last minute came to my senses and realised even as an experienced dog owner, her issues were too much for me to deal with at this time. I need to protect my own mental health and my sobriety, not make my life more difficult. It was very sad, she was sold a few hours later to goodness knows who.

I am acting really impulsively at the moment and need to be careful. Think I need to talk to a professional as I am definitely of kilter.

Mags1

Kaily, would you ever consider a pup from Battersea or other dog rescues? I hope your kilter gets back on track.

andyh

morning all, hope everyone is doing okay.

sounds like you made a good decision about the dog Kaily. I hope you're able to reach out to someone for some help if you're feeling like you need some.

Lixie

I want a dog so badly, but my partner doesn't want a puppy and adult dogs are not easy to find here. We adopted a dog (from a person, not a shelter, we don't really have those here) and I drove 12 hours to pick it up. She was a shy, little collie, eight years old, but we quickly saw that things weren't OK with her and we had her checked out by a vet. Turned out she had the worst case of HD the vet had ever seen, and she said that the dog was in so much pain that we should let her go. We got four weeks with that sweet little dog and I miss her every day. I want a dog...

Mags1

Saou, Do you know where the statue in the pic is?

Mags1

Lixie, so sad the little dog was suffering. I’m glad she had four happy weeks with you. x

Awake61

My new kitten is my soul mate at times. Amazing how pets can help heal us. Lucky to be able to have gotten her, as the shelter has been very popular. Black cats, though, are not wanted as much! Great for this coming holiday!

Cityboy

Bandicoot, thank you for sharing that. Congrats on 5 years.

Least, "I don't have to drink" is a great way of looking at it. Now, thoughts of drinking mostly come at times of social anxiety, the same I suppose as when I very first started drinking in my teens.

SoberLeigh, I'm not willing to take the risk either. The sunset and star watching on the beach sounds nice.

Kaily, that's amazing that puppies cost that much right now.

Lixie, sounds like it was very lucky for the little collie to have found you when it did.

Unfortunately, our local adoption shelters have a lot of dogs that have behavioral and medical problems.

Erica375

Looking forward to a sober Halloween weekend! It will be just Doggie and me, as Daughter is going to visit her sisters. They usually spend Halloween in Salem (MA) as that's where one of my daughters lives, but they're not entering that craziness this year. Actually, I don't know if Salem is allowing the festivities. I haven't even figured out if my own town is allowing trick-or-treating. Guess I better buy some candy, just in case!

saoutchik

I have always wanted a dog but as a practising alcoholic it was always out of the question. At 5.75 years sober that is no longer an issue but I have to put my Captain Sensible hat on and acknowledge that I live alone in a 2nd floor flat (3rd floor in the rest of the world) and work full time Covid permitting so it wouldn't be fair.

Mags, those statues are from the "English" cemetery in Florence, Elizabeth Barrett Browning is buried there among others.

https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/english-cemetery

LongWaytoGo2

Today makes day 6 sober, and I want to try to keep myself active here. There have been some highs and lows, but I think I'm doing pretty well. I have a plan put together to handle my first full sober weekend and look forward to spending time with my family and new dog we just got yesterday!

biminiblue

Welcome to Weekenders, LongWay. Hope you don't mind if I abbreviate.


All this talk of dogs and cats, I live on a very popular trail and there are a lot of puppies out there. Three of my neighbors have gotten new dogs. All this work from home gives people the time and the lonelies.

Here is the OP from Weekenders on October 22, 2015. I skimmed through the thread, I miss a lot of the old-timers. From Weasel, who started this thread weekly when I first hopped on...

Weasel1966

https://www.soberrecovery.com/forums...-23-until.html (Get support here! Weekender October 23 until...)

Devizes

Hello all Octsobers

I'm half way through day six bulimia-free now. Yippeeee! Thank you all for your support. Looking forward to a good, healthy weekend

LongWay - we are sober-twins! Here's to our first week. I bet your new dog will be spoilt rotten!

Bim - Nice to hear that sober bell again

(((Kaily))) (((Liz))) Huge hugs to you

biminiblue

Congrats, Devizes. Onward to Day Seven, and then forevermore.

Cityboy

MLD, a couple of comments regarding you great post yesterday.

Now that I can look at it more from the outside, after having been on the inside for my whole adult life, I have found the whole dynamic of alcohol dependency to be very fascinating. I've been struck, from the first time I began reading on SR, at the commonalities that we (all of us here) share regardless of geographic location, family history, etc., as to the how-when-why we developed a dependency on alcohol, and the ways in which our lives have been affected. The "gained clarity" has proved to be much more that I had imagined.

"Don't hate my reflection in the mirror anymore". Me as well. Another 10 kilos and I might actually like my physical reflection in the mirror. Getting there. The self reflection is so much better that there is no comparison. No waves of guilt over things recently said or done. No more feelings that it wouldn't be so bad if there was a crash and I just didn't have to deal with it all anymore.

No, I have no desire to take a chance by trying to moderate again either.

Devizes