Tuesday, June 16, 2009
ANNIVERSARY
I had my last drink thirty years ago today or yesterday depending on how you count your days.
My first day without any booze in my system would be today. Well, there was some in there. It takes a while to leave. There just wasn't going to be anymore.
I don't need to tell you my story here. There is another place for that. But, as you might imagine, it is a very significant day in my life.
What was to follow was not easy. I had a thirty day detox in a medically oriented hospital. Physical rehab. Ventilation therapy. Heavy vitamins and some other drugs but not drug drugs.
Stuff like that. And medical lectures.
The only other treatment was the Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous.
A miracle to end up in a place like this. Straight talk, tough love, physical recovery.
More places than not, today, would drive a man back to drink with all the frills and psychobabble. The recovery industry.
In this place, there was no way around the facts of the matter. A life or death situation.
I got life.
As it turns out, in my case, a life sentence wasn't too bad. I'm still here and sober a day at a time. And I still place my recovery first and foremost. Another gift.
