Sobriety Means From Millstone to Milestones

Kathy and I went camping last week at Spring Mill State Park in southern Indiana. It gets its name from the mill there that has operated since the 19th Century, powered by a spring that flows from a cave at the upper end of a flume.

Such mills grind grain between two millstones: "a pair of circular stones between which grain or another substance is ground." The name of the lodge at the park is called The Millstone.

But millstone has another definition: "any heavy mental or emotional burden (often used in the phrase a millstone around one's neck)." I went to school with a girl named Millstone. Even back then I thought that was an unfortunate surname.

But change the "l" to an "e" and the word becomes "milestone, which is something very different. A milestone is "a significant event or stage in life, progress, development, or the like of a person. nation, etc."

Drinking was my millstone until I got the "l" away from it. May 1, 2018, is a milestone, the day I quit drinking -- for good, I hope. October 15, 2019, is another milestone. That's the day I agreed to be a friend's A.A. sponsor. My role is to remove his millstone with the help of God.

I am excited for the challenge of helping another leave the grind of the millstone, and to measure progress with each milestone in his recovery.