Written on day 730 but not posted till day 740 cause, well, a girl gets busy. I put aside the classy, glamorous, life-and-ambition-and-joy-sucking white wine two years ago today. Crazy, right? I don't spend nearly as much time thinking about my drinking days as I used to, but with this date approaching I have been thinking…
Uncategorized
Day 483: Woman Walks Into a Room.
I went to my first AA meeting last week. And I also ran my first race, a 10K where the back half was mostly hills. Hey, guess which one was scarier? Yep. I almost didn't go at all, honestly, except that I had decided I would, had even picked a day and time and a neighborhood…
Day 436: Seeking a Canning Meetup, But for Alcoholics
I was heading into one of my favorite tucked-away-off-a-brick-alley coffee shops the other day to put in a few hours on my novel. It was a beautiful day and two young women--maybe mid-20s, both with crew cuts and big tattoos--were sitting outside on a bench. As I approached, I heard one of them say, "Well,…
Continue reading ➞ Day 436: Seeking a Canning Meetup, But for Alcoholics
Day 426: Boyhood (or, Life is Wide)
By now chances are good you've heard about Boyhood, Richard Linklater's film following the life of a fairly average (whatever that means) American boy from age 7 to 17. It got a lot of early buzz because of the unusual and risky way it was made--Linklater got the same group of actors together for about two…
Day 396: Recovery, Uncovery
Boy, it's been a while since I posted here. It isn't that I've disappeared from the sober blogosphere. I read blogs every day, and as a project for my second year of sobriety have been making an effort to comment, especially on newbies' blogs. It seemed like one way I could start giving back. And…
Day 298: Waterboggan
My 44th birthday is in a few days. I was meditating the other day--I hate to meditate, but I still do it, just like I hate to empty the dishwasher but I do that too--and suddenly thought, "I don't know how to have a sober birthday." It's not that my birthdays were exactly maniacal blowouts, or not…
Day 295: Fixing things you had no idea were broken
I said the above to a friend at lunch today. He's not someone I know super well, but our paths have crossed here and there over the years and I've always found him to be an unusually (for the alpha-male tech company I work for) thoughtful and kind person. His wife died quite suddenly in…
Continue reading ➞ Day 295: Fixing things you had no idea were broken
Day 240: I’m Still Here
Whew! It's been a while since I posted and I'd like to get back to doing so more frequently. Being sober is more and more just my default setting and I don't always feel like I have something new and revelatory to say about it--or when I do, I don't always have the quiet time…
Day 197: “At Least I’m Sober.”
"At least I'm sober." I find myself thinking that so often lately--and in a natural way, not a forced-gratitude one. For instance, I've got the flu right now (don't be like me and forget, people--go get your flu shots!) and feel pretty wiped out. But in the midst of a self-pity moment today I thought…
Day 189: I Won’t Drink Sparkling Cider and You Can’t Make Me
I just cannot bring myself to drink it. That is all. I have some kind of utterly irrational yet bone-deep hostility toward the notion of sparkling cider as a substitute for champagne/sparkling wine. (I actually find it odd overall that fizzy drinks are regarded as 'festive,' as if modern humans experienced the miracle of carbonation…
Continue reading ➞ Day 189: I Won’t Drink Sparkling Cider and You Can’t Make Me