So, today is the big anniversary date. One year ago today, the CHICAGO CUBS WON THE WORLD SERIES! Oh, and also, 26 years ago today, I woke up, late for a court date. I managed to hustle downtown just in time to avoid being sentenced to spend the rest of my teenage years at St. Charles Correctional Facility. I was mere moments away from death, at that point. Having not eaten much in the last few weeks, other than random weeds I'd pick and eat, and having recently drank enough and done enough acid to be mostly delusional and in a perpetual fog that would last for a few months yet, I wouldn't have lasted long at that place. My mouth would've gotten me in trouble, despite the fact that I would've been a target just for being crazy, white, malnourished etc. I wound up, thanks to my father hiring a lawyer, being made a ward of the state and placed into a 6 month residential rehab after serving my jail time (regular juvenile detention, which was still unfriendly enough). Somewhere along the line, something clicked for me. I went from believing I would rather die that live without alcohol and drugs, to having a spiritual awakening that changed me enough to see where this sobriety thing might lead. And here I am, 26 years later, ready to see where this sobriety thing might lead. One day at a time.
It's funny… I have never, in my entire life, done anything perfectly every single day. Except not drink. I cannot follow a health plan every day. I cannot go to work every day. I cannot think of a single goal or thing I want where I didn't, at one point, have a day off or a cheat day, if you will. Except not drinking. I have gone every single day for 26 years without having a drink. Now, given my track record of everything else, and all the cheat days in other aspects, I believe it to be a fact that my sobriety is not of my doing. If it were up to me, I'd have had a cheat day. And who knows if I'd ever make it back in that scenario? Maybe I'd be in and out the rest of my life. Maybe I'd die drunk. Maybe I'd come back and stick. Who knows? What I do know is that the mystery that I call God has kept me sober 9,482 days IN A ROW! Clearly it wasn't me. I couldn't make one day in a row. I am living proof that this thing works. One day at a time.
It's funny… I have never, in my entire life, done anything perfectly every single day. Except not drink. I cannot follow a health plan every day. I cannot go to work every day. I cannot think of a single goal or thing I want where I didn't, at one point, have a day off or a cheat day, if you will. Except not drinking. I have gone every single day for 26 years without having a drink. Now, given my track record of everything else, and all the cheat days in other aspects, I believe it to be a fact that my sobriety is not of my doing. If it were up to me, I'd have had a cheat day. And who knows if I'd ever make it back in that scenario? Maybe I'd be in and out the rest of my life. Maybe I'd die drunk. Maybe I'd come back and stick. Who knows? What I do know is that the mystery that I call God has kept me sober 9,482 days IN A ROW! Clearly it wasn't me. I couldn't make one day in a row. I am living proof that this thing works. One day at a time.
