I'Ll Have Mine Straight Up

ELEVEN YEARSShhhhh! Enough on the years. I am not collecting years, just days. 4017 days on my sobriety birthday, July 12, 2015.Last time I checked, we are all on the same day Today.This year leading up to my sobriety birthday in July looked strangely like the six months leading up to the day I stopped drinking. From January to July in 2004, I was not sober much of the time.We received the news this year that my husband had a rare form of thyroid cancer requiring surgery and two types of radiation. During that same time, my mother died suddenly of a heart attack. I went through the loss of several other friends and their memorials tightly packed together right after my moms deaththen recently, my only nieces death.The difference?I didnt drink through any of what has happened this year. There is nothing in this life that we can experience that a drink wont make worse.Walking through the emotions of it all is hard. People said I would feel better when I got sober. Yes, I am feeling my feelings better because I am present. Stuffing the feelings by drinking was keeping me in denial and stuck. I feel better because I am not checking out. Feelings are not facts. The feelings pass. Growth happens. I can move on and live.Now, I am living all of this life straight up!You can too. I pray that for you.