Saturday, September 16th

[Lou]

Saturday, September 16th

Hi to you too mike,

And well done on the continued abs...you sound like a great guy who can really do this

Lou-Lou x x x

[vinophile]

Saturday, September 16th

What great thoughts today.Especially on a weekend when so many of us need extra help.
Alcohol,indeed changes me from the minute I have my first sip.It's like taking a free fall from the top of a cliff and not knowing where I'm going to land.I can fall all the way to the bottom or get snagged along the way but it almost always hurts.I will always want more than one or two.I can fool myself over and over that I'll stop after 2 drinks but it rarely happens.
Last week I took my mother to a very nice restaurant for lunch.The place has a bar(no we did not drink)and from where we sat at our table I could watch the bar.Seated at the bar was a very elegant woman who was drinking a large glass of wine. She drank two glasses while we were there and then went to the ladies room.As she passed,despite her elegance, nice clothes,great makeup and well done hair,was the bloated face of an alcoholic.Nothing could cover up the fact that she was a drinker and that hit me like a bucket of ice water.I do not want to be that woman!!!!!!
Great job Tartan. You guys are 5 hours ahead of me so if you can go to the pub and not drink I'll carry on as you have done and continue with Sober Saturday.
Have a great evening all!!!
Does anyone want to bring back prohibition????
Janet

PS.... Nancy,I can't believe there is a relative (of the bride?) who will not come because the evening will be "dry"
How insensitive and hurtful!!!! What an *ss

[Guest]

Saturday, September 16th

2 days in a row now.. i'm nearly a regular!!!

Kathy, I'm honoured that you took up my point as a topic. thanks for that. I read the post about your daughter as well. As you know, I dont read all the posts. When I come here i read the post for this day and if i can remember the day i previously posted, I read that one.. so I missed the original post about it. It does sound tough for you. I suppose when it comes down to it, when you love someone you have to set them free and that sounds like what you are doing for madisson. In your heart I reckon it must feel like you are doing the right thing, even if its tough on you right now.. it certainly reads like its the right thing to do from here. I think the reason that you posted about this stuff is the dealing with the emotions that it brings up.. cos for many of us here.. drinking was a way to dumb down emotions that are too hard to take... so i'm glad that you got some support here to help you with that.. well done.

Janet, I think you are partly right in that the first sip is kind of the crushing blow.. but I think Mike makes a good point also where you can set yourself up for slips also. I"ve seen that happen many times around this board... so you conveniently 'forget' that you havent taken your topa. or done your exercise etc or left booze somewhere in the house ... its very subtle the way your brain sets you up for the slip .. and once you have the drink in your hand.. well..the path to get it there in terms of breaking to yourself what you have done and being dishonest with yourself in that process means its pretty impossible to stop the crash that then happens.

I'm sure that everyone has their own particular story of how they get to sobriety. For me at nearly 11 months now, I was hooked to this site for months in the beginning. I could tell you what everyone had said that day. I fixated on hours and minutes. But now, thats not true for me at all. Even when i'm around drinkers, I dont want it. Coming here reminds me of that and that is now the main reason i come back here. I'm finally at a place of honesty with myself that I know its not for me, if i think otherwise, then i'm deluding myself and taking a convenitient path in my brain to set me up for a fall and I really dont want to go back... i want to keep going forward.

Brigid

[sujul]

Saturday, September 16th

Good going, Tartan! You too, Mike! And for some reason I was tickled by the idea of you sitting in Chili's checking in here, while others guzzled nearby!

So, what we can do once we add strategy to determination... You deserve a (healthy, AF) treat! Think of the $$$'s saved too!

Okay, Janet, you have totally freaked me out with your vivid picture of that woman at the bar....omg, I HAD become a bloated drunkard...my face looked all puffy and my body had blown up like a tic! Ugh! It makes me wonder how many people really suspected/knew what was going on with me even while I thought I was doing such a great job keeping my act "together." That poor woman! We ALL know how she's probably dying inside....
:h
susan

[Newyear]

Saturday, September 16th

Janet....thank you thank you...I had posted earlier that I needed something else to visualize when I think
about drinking. Well, I think you have given it to me.
Your description of that nicely dressed sophisticated woman drinking at the bar really got to me. I've always put myself in that scene as that woman..and that was a positive...me as that lady....now I can see that in a different light and I don't want to be that lady either. I already have her pictured...thanks that helped.
Mike- hope you have a great trip - sorry about the layover
And Nancy..I think that is a bit much too...missing a wedding because it's dry? Well, ok, I may have rolled my eyes in the past if I had been invited to a dry wedding...but I'm pretty sure I would have gone
And good for you Tartan...bet that felt pretty good when you got home too!

Lisa

[Mackeral]

Saturday, September 16th

Hello my fellow lovely Abbers,

Just finished decorating now, and just this minute plugged my P.C. back in so i havn't caught up on everything i've missed yet ....Gonna do that in the morning.....It's nearly 1am here now....Oh my god i'm absolutly cream crackered....But i'm sat here in my lovely new living room with a carpet i can lie on and not stick to...(Always a bonus).....
I'm really ready for my pit....Ah sod it i'm gonna have a quick 5 minute read.....Looking forward to catching up properly tomorrow...Love Macks:l

[sujul]

Saturday, September 16th

Welcome back, Macks!
We've missed you!

Btw, I've ALWAYS preferred a rug I didn't stick to! :H

Thanks, Brigid, for reminding us that we do indeed set ourselves up for a "slip"--it's as if our subconscious has already decided we're going to drink and then it takes all the necessary steps that lead us, inevitably, to taking that sip... And, after that...well, you know....:upset:

:h
susan

[tawnyfrog]

Saturday, September 16th

A quick visit to say how nice it is to see Mac's back. I just know that all's well in the world when I see that joyful, leaping little lucifer.

Tawny

[Mackeral]

Saturday, September 16th

Well thats what my friends call me......Thanks Tawny & Susan:l

[YoungAtHeart]

Saturday, September 16th

Night Again....

I'm so glad that today's discussion has been a productive one! Thanks Brigid! Many of your comments provide lots of food for thought. I can think of a topic for tomorrow just from reading what you wrote tonight, too! I'll let you off the hook for EVER being Mayor if you keep writing posts from time to time that keep giving me such good ideas!

Mike, what a wonderful job you did in the airport! I'm so glad that you could "stay wired" with us in Absville, even from a remote location!

And Lou, how are you, there? You haven't said much about yourself, now. Are you feeling any better from your cold??

Nancy, your story gave me a chill, brrrrrrr.....I remember putting on my makeup and checking to see if the whites of my eyes looked yellow all the time--or if I had a little pain, thinking is that gas, or is my liver starting to give out? Living with all that anxiety was becoming so unbearable! I can visualize myself as that lady too, that woman I haven't become YET, and hopefully, seeing myself that way can help me, as well, when temptation comes to sit on my shoulder!

Mackadoodle, it is sooooo good to see you back, buddy! I'm glad you've got your new carpet, delightfully not sticky!!! We'll look forward to hearing more from you when you've caught up on reading!

Has Liz posted today?? I don't recall seeing anything from her, and I can only see so many posts here as I type. Hope the chixter is okay!

How are you Gabby? Busy, busy, busy, I would imagine!!!

Anyway, I'm pretty tired. I'm really enjoying that new memory foam thing I got for my mattress. No more stiff joints in the morning. Sweet!

Anyway, good night dear neighbors, and love to all in our dear town!

Kathy:l