Daily AF Thread - Wednesday December 10

[ready2change]

Daily AF Thread - Wednesday December 10

Whoops I must have missed that!!! Ah well, if anyone missed WIP's here it is again!!

R2C

[cymru]

Daily AF Thread - Wednesday December 10

A very good afternoon all. Into double figures today. Still feeling great about myself and my future and looking forward to christmas.
Had some mild cravings yesterday, not to drink wine or go on a binge, but to go down the pub and have a few pints and chill in the warm with it being freezing outside. It would feel Christmasy. AND, it would end up with a bottle of wine on the way home and a sore head the next day.
Not today...im o.k!

[retteacher]

Daily AF Thread - Wednesday December 10

R2C: I too missed WIP's posting of the article. I think I saw it but didn't have time to read it. Anyhow, I read it now & really enjoyed it. Thankfully, I don't have a lot of AL-saturated parties & events to deal with. If we do get together w/friends, they all drink very mod or not at all. One bottle goes an incredibly long way when I'm not imbibing. Thank you so much for posting it. Mary

[kaponium]

Daily AF Thread - Wednesday December 10

Greetings all, great to catch up on the posts.

Double figs, cy - awesome for you...It CAN be done ay mate - and with Joy!!

[momof3]

Daily AF Thread - Wednesday December 10

Hello All,

I'm checking in a bit later than usual today...been engaged in lots of mental masturbation, a.k.a, work--ha, ha.

Lots of very sad and touching stories about DUIs, our children, etc. here today. I will echo what you all have said. It was only by luck and the grace of God that I escaped major catastrophes in all areas when I was drinking. When I think what could have happened to my children, it makes me shiver. They are so innocent and precious...my life really. I know that the popular wisdom is that you should quite drinking for yourself, but I initially quit for them. I want them to have a positive, nondrinking mom in their lives. I stay sober for me, but I quit drinking for them.

Congrats to all who are racking up the numbers with AF days.

To all of those who are quitting smoking too, I bow to you. I quit 20 years ago and have experienced many parallels between quitting drinking and quitting smoking. You can definitely apply experiences from one to the other.

[JAMMS]

Daily AF Thread - Wednesday December 10

Back to Day #2.....
As far as the subject of drinking and driving---
Just like some of you have said already...I get sick to my stomach when I think of all the times I have driven when I've been drinking. Or have driven my son to school the next day hungover or still drunk....you know the feeling. I feel better that I know I will NEVER Do that again, however, there are othere people out there who do it everyday. Scarey!
I've seen many of my freinds burry their teenagers because of alcohol related car accidents. 5 to be exact. There really is nothing to take those images out of your mind.

Momof3-very well said, that is exactly how I feel.

Cymru- :goodjob: way to be strong!

[brittzak]

Daily AF Thread - Wednesday December 10

Dets had a very good point as well...driving hungover...I shutter to think. It is equally as bad. How can you possibly drive so deathly ill? The answer is...BARELY....

[on my way]

Daily AF Thread - Wednesday December 10

Well, some of you that know me, know how much I abhor drinking and driving?.nothing positive could possibly ever come of it. It is something that should never be done, strange coming from an alcoholic??? Sorry, don?t mean to sound all preachy and self righteous. As far as accidents go? they no longer call the accident form an accident form, it?s called a crash form. Someone actually got out of paying restitution because the lawyer proved by the form name that it was indeed an accident, amazing, huh?

Got thru the first Christmas party without drinking and was pretty pleased with myself. I know I could not have done it with out the support I get here, thanks all. :thanks:
2 more parties to go and I will be home free!

I will come back later to read more of today?s posts, been a busy one here today.

All the best, nat

[spottydingo]

Daily AF Thread - Wednesday December 10

Happy Weds everyone! Wow, we're really intense today ... some REALLY amazing posts here.

Recovery is hard, among many other reasons, because it attempts to turn an active and powerful want into a not-want. I have to not want, both long and short term, what I want. To transform a desire from something that seemed to work so well for so long (to numb and shun the feelings and emotions), to a desire for unchartered and unknown territories -- to halt the mission. Battling against the romantic memories of good feelings and good times linked to alcohol, and the desire to return there, while discounting all the pain and bad consequences and ultimate failures of the mission, is a recipe for relapse and continuing the failed mission in the very face of its failure.

Tiresias, wow. You have a great understanding here. This observation is SO TRUE. I forget who posted a great analogy to this (my apologies to that person) but someone here likened it to getting in the ring with AL and fighting, or just leaving the building. I have been using that image a lot lately ... in fact I did last night when Hubby came home with wine after a big presentation he had been working on for the past 10 days. At one point I thought maybe I was caving, but instead I did some dishes and then some laundry and then watched TV and by then AL had given up trying to entice me.

RE: drunk driving: yesterday was my father's birthday and when I finally got in touch with him he told me he had had a Manhattan and wine with dinner at a restaurant, and was having cognac now that he was at home. I asked if my mom had driven home, and he said, no, he did. It made me worry. My parents don't drink that much (to my knowledge) but they live in a rural part of New England so I know wherever they went to dinner wasn't close by. Arghh! But, see thats how casual people are about drinking and driving! Our town actually has a jitney bus that makes the rounds of all the bars & restaurants and will take you home (or to your hotel) if you need it (we are somewhat rural and don't have cabs but we also get a lot of tourists) so I think this is a great idea. When we went out for our anniversary dinner the couple next to us kept talking to us, and the guy was absolutely plastered. They then went out and got on a motorcycle!!! We kept expecting to see an accident on the way home. What do you do in that situation? I felt like someone should intervene, but the guy was the type who would probably become belligerent. Yuck.

Fortunately I've lived in cities most of my adult life so for many years I didn't drive, but unfortunately have done some DD in the past 10 years. There are a couple of incidents I don't even want to think about, as I have been extremely lucky. Yet another reason to be AF.

Well, I should go continue with my day.

Cheers!

[Cinders]

Daily AF Thread - Wednesday December 10

Drinking and Driving.

I have three things I would like to share about it.

1. Some of us drink to the point of blackout. I know for a FACT that I have driven incredibly drunk because I have awakened with a "strange" bottle on my bedstead that I know I did not have before I started drinking. I must have driven down my mountain, on the highway, purchased the bottle and gone back home. This is one reason I know I must ABSOLUTELY not drink. I am, quite honestly, a danger to others when I drink. Period.

2. I have an acquaintance whose son was an alcoholic. They tried everything, rehabs, interventions, the works. He just could not quit drinking. Then one night he was driving home from a bar (probably blacked out like me) and ran into a car. He killed a 7 year old girl. He went to jail and stayed several years. When he got out, he was sober, he straightened his life out. He got a good job and got married. He now has two children. He said to me one day, "I do not go to bed at night after looking at my children without thinking I stole someone else's from them. I can never ever redeem myself from that." What a horrible thing to live with.

3. Our wonderful Bear. Sober. Killed by a drunk driver on his way home from an AA meeting. I miss our Bear. He was a gentle, kind and good soul. Taken away because of this poison.

Not a very upbeat post but I had to post it anyway.

Love,
Cindi

[Doggygirl]

Daily AF Thread - Wednesday December 10

I just read every post from today and I want to thank all of your for participating, and putting your hearts and souls into the topic that evolved today. For me, one of the most difficult things to talk about is the risks I have taken that could have snuffed out another life. It's something we don't tend to talk about all that often (at least not in the way we have today, that I have seen) but I think it's important that we DO talk about it once in awhile.

I am so grateful for those of us here who have had very close brushes with The Edge but were lucky. I am so very sad for anyone here who took a risk and was not so lucky. We never know for sure what is around the next bend. But I am proud to be a part of this group who is SO DETERMINED that we will not take any more risks with AL.

Wow.

Love,
DG

[momof3]

Daily AF Thread - Wednesday December 10

Tiresias--Thanks for jumping into this thread today. I really appreciated your very thoughtful post.