Friday Night

What does a sober alcoholic do on a Friday night? These used to be the perplexing questions I had when I was a drunk. I just didn't think I could give up the "fun". When the drinking got desperate enough, I was thrilled to give up that kind of fun. I thought the rest of my life would be boring, but I finally got to the point where boring would be better than what I was doing.

In my early years of sobriety, I belonged to an AA club. There were dances there every Friday and Saturday night, right after huge speaker meetings. I would be there every single week dancing my little heart out. It was great fun. Basically it was like a bar, but we were all sober. There was still a lot of the unhealthly behaviors that take place in bars. But the good news was that I stayed sober through that, and a lot of other people did too.

Now I am in my 50s, and a good Friday night would be just like tonight. I got home from work a little early because I like to take off a tad early on Friday afternoons. I quickly changed my clothes and came back outside and mowed my lawn! Very exciting because I broke a rib on August 19, so this is the first time I have mowed since then. (I am blessed to have a neighbor who has been kind enough to mow for me in the meantime.) Then I decided to prune a few of the trees in my yard. A couple of the aspens in the back yard are looking very scraggly and unhealthy. Two of my neighbors came over and helped me with this project. We moved some rocks around and pruned and picked up and weeded a bit.

Very exciting! I think so. And I thank God that I think so. I am now in for the evening and will probably watch a little TV after a bit. I might work on the quilt I am in the middle of. I might knit for a while. I might do none of that but just sit and watch TV. If the phone rings, I could end up on the phone for hours. Being an AA member is like that.

Tomorrow morning I will get up early and go to a 6:30 a.m. meeting, and then I will either take a run or go swimming.

I might make my year's supply of salsa tomorrow. If I can get my daughter to help me I will most likely do that. I love to can.

This is all very boring stuff, but it is what a wonderful peaceful life is made of for me today. I am so very grateful not to have the kind of excitement I used to have in my life. I will be happy to go to bed (by myself) tonight and wake up in the morning remembering everything I did today, having no regrets for anything I did and not fearing seeing anyone or facing anything.

How can you ask for anything more than that?

Thank you God.