Still on Vacation From Drinking

I'm home from our annual family camping vacation, which includes my family and my in-laws. Only 11 attended this year. It was the first such get-together since my father-in-law died. My mother-in-law didn't go. I'm glad my 87-year-old mother was able to go. She even rode a camel at a wildlife park.

As for me, I was there 100% sober. I can't say that for every year. One time I was sick for several days as I detoxed. One year I went just a week after a 28-day out-patient stay. I even went to  an AA meeting someplace in Ohio that year. But I stayed sober only about three months after that. Other years I thought often about how soon I would be home...alone...with vodka. I couldn't wait for the outing to end.

It was so nice this year to be sober and without a thought of my next drink. Each morning during my fitness walk I thanked God for the nature around me, for taking over my life as I had asked him to do, and for my family at camp and places far away.

I'm grateful that, after several years of drinking out of control, it is God now in control. I have learned a lot about myself during the Twelve-Step process. I'm glad for my family's unconditional love. Sobriety would have been tougher without it.