Great post, Mossy. I am so glad that now with my teenaged kids I can be present for them. My younger one asked me how long it had been since I had a drink and when I told him a year I asked him why. He told me that he wanted to use me as a role model! Very rewarding.
I agree, Matt. Alcoholics worry a lot more about what people are drinking or not drinking than non-alcoholics.
I have a different take than complete honesty, Resolve. I was completely honest with my husband, my counselor, MWO and a good friend who is one of us. With everyone else I still say - it was becoming too much of a habit, I found myself relying on it in a way that made me uncomfortable, or something benign like that. If someone presses me, I don't mind going into details, but often they don't and just move on (like Matt points out above). Especially when I first quit, however, it was always just "I quit for December as part of a health kick" or something like that. Enough people knew and held me accountable so I know I wasn't leaving a door open, but at the same time I protected my fragile self from a lot of questions I wasn't ready to answer. I remember my cousin's husband asked "forever?" and I said, "forever is a long time." Turns out that he is one of us, and my answer left the door open for him to come talk to me privately later.
Sho - 7 days tomorrow? I am a counter and measurer, and I love those milestones. That is why the Roll Call was so important to me (thanks, Fin). As someone here said, once you've hit 7, you've been through all of the days of the week sober.
Even though I haven't figured out how to change my status, I am HAPPY and AWESOME (but not always!).
Happy Sober Hump Day!
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