The good stuff

I thought I would be nice to start a thread about the good stuff that happens to people in sobriety.

The funny thing is, I don't really have anything specific to report....everything is just....good haha. I have been "medically retired" for the last year (a phrase I heard here on PC awhile ago). My doctors have finally gotten me straightened out on meds that are making me feel more human, and I'm getting ready to rejoin the work force.

The fact that I didn't drink when I got my diagnosis, or the countless times when I was stressing over money, or the many many other hardships that have taken place in my sobriety, amazes me every day. Having the tools that I have that provide me with a design for living that help me deal with ANY problem that comes up, has kept me from drinking for over 2 years.

I'm actually in a healthy relationship now with another sober person, and living an honest life and sharing my insecurities with him has made for a wonderful open honest and free relationship.

So nothing huge is happening, that is making me want to jump for joy and share something "Guess what happened!!!!!".....its simply the fact that I can live day by day, and face challenges, and come out on the other side, sober, happy, joyous and free.

I was thinking about a friend of mine when I started this post. One of the joys of going to meetings is watching people come in and "get it", watching them get sober, watching things start happening for them. A friend of mine made it through law school while he was drinking. But the wreckage of his past kept him from getting licensed even though he passed the bar.

After he got sober, he started working on appealing that. He had to fill out a huge packet, explaining every single thing he had ever done wrong while in law school. It took him about 6 months to complete all the paperwork. Yesterday he had the hearing, and was honest about everything, and explained what he was doing to stay sober, and had letters from some men in the program.

The decision came back the same day, and they're going to license him to practice law! He'll be on a kind of probation with the board, but all his honesty and hard work paid off, and he's on the road to cleaning up the wreckage of his past. This guy has worked HARD to get where he is. When he came into the program, he was driving this car that you always heard coming it squeeked so loud, the windows were busted and the ignition actually came out, and thats how he started it hahah. Now he's got a new (used) car, and is about to start his journey as a lawyer. This guy will have one year of sobriety on July 4th.

The gifts of sobriety are numerous, no matter how you find it or how you keep it. I just wanted to start a positive thread here so......share about that good stuff that's happened to you in sobriety. Lets give some hope to others that it can and does get better.

~Rayna

SweetSunshine saw my post and PM'd me song lyrics by Kenny Chesney for a song called "The Good Stuff". So without further adieu, here they are!

Well me and my lady had our first big fight
So I drove around until I saw the neon lights
At a corner bar.
It just seemed right, so I pulled up.
Not a soul around but the old barkeep
Down at the end lookin' half asleep.
And he walked up and and said, "What'll it be?"
I said, "The good stuff."

He didn't reach around for the whiskey;
He didn't pour me a beer.
His blue eyes kinda went misty,
He said, "You can't find that here."

"'Cause it's the first long kiss on a second date.
Momma's all worried when you get home late
And droppin' the ring in the spagetti plate,
'Cause your hands are shakin' so much.
And it's the way she looks with the rice in her hair.
Eating burnt suppers the whole first year,
And askin' for seconds to keep her from tearin' up.
Yeah, man, that's The Good Stuff."

He grabbed a carton of milk and poured a glass
And I smiled and said, "I'll have some of that."
We sat there and talked as an hour passed, like old friends.

I saw a black and white picture and HE caught my stare.
It was a pretty girl with bouffant hair.
He said, "That's my Bonnie,
Taken 'bout a year after we were wed."

He said, "Spent five years in the bottle,
When the cancer took her from me.
But I've been sober three years now,
'Cause the one thing stronger than the whiskey..."

"Was the sight of her holdin my baby girl.
The way she adored that string of pearls,
I gave her the day that our youngest boy, Earl,
Married his high school love.
And it's a new t-shirt saying, "I'm a Grandpa!"
Being right there as our time got small,
And holding her hand when the good Lord called her up.
Yeah, man, that's the good stuff."

He said, "When you get home, she'll start to cry.
When she says 'I'm sorry' say 'So am I'
And look into those eyes so deep in love,
And drink it up.
'Cause that's the good stuff.
That's the good stuff."

Great stuff! Thanks!

Let's see, sober 3 years and 4 months

1. Not using my charge cards for booze anymore
2. Can be aware and take care of my 13 year old niece who is a type 1 diabetic - couldn't give her injections, etc. if the hands shook all the time.
3. Changed jobs at my employer - much less stress
4. Working at acknowedging feelings instead of numbing them.
5. MANY new friends that are nicer than some family members.
6. Met Charlie, my adopted grandad (who really could be my dad, but I like to think that he was the grandad I didn't have (mine abused me)).
7. An taking care of my illness instead of drinking and taking pain pills
8. Talk to my dad more often - he died 7 years ago and I talk to him all the time now
9. Little things don't become major difficulties like they use to - can let go easier
10. No more imprints in the shower curtain of my head - I use to sit on the toilet and start to pass out and would wake up when my head was going in the shower
11. Sponsored 2 teenage girls that I adore - one became a surrugote daughter to me and taught me so much - she was very insiring at 17 years old.
12. Have a fabulous sponsor who is there for me for what ever I need (I just need to learn to accept her help and call her more often!)

Tranquility

My wife and I were going somewhere with the kids in the car, and as we passed an outdoor board for Jack Daniel’s Hard Lemonade. And my oldest daughter asked me, “What is that, daddy? And I said to her, that is alcohol honey. And she said, ‘Oh, You don’t drink that stuff, do you daddy? And I said, “No baby, I don’t.”

Her mama and I exchanged a look across that car that spoke volumes.

My daughters doesn’t remember their father as a fall down drunk. When I showed up for my first meeting, I wished for a lot of things out of sobriety. No more hangovers, no more of those looks people give wet drunks when they think they aren’t looking, no more tears from my kids when I went off over some little thing just because I was coming out of my own skin. I wished for all sorts of things.

But to have my daughters not even remember their father as the *** hole I used to be, that one never even occurred to me.

And tonight, I am going to tell God thanks for gifts I’m not even wise enough to ask for.

On the road to the good stuff,
Richard

That brought tears to my eyes. I never thought about that either....if/when I have children, they'll never know me drunk as long as I continue to do this thing......

Thanks for posting guys.....now where's the rest of you with your good stuff additions?

I'm still pretty new at this sobriety stuff, but the good stuff is happenning. My hands don't shake anymore. I'm not throwing up all the time. I'm meeting lots of great people in AA. I know I'm not damaging my health. My problems with concentration and short term memory are clearing up. And most importantly I can look in a mirror without hating myself.

---splitimage

I absolutely LOVE watching you grow splitimage. People like you make me want to keep coming back.

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shadowalker164 said:
My wife and I were going somewhere with the kids in the car, and as we passed an outdoor board for Jack Daniel’s Hard Lemonade. And my oldest daughter asked me, “What is that, daddy? And I said to her, that is alcohol honey. And she said, ‘Oh, You don’t drink that stuff, do you daddy? And I said, “No baby, I don’t.”

Her mama and I exchanged a look across that car that spoke volumes.

My daughters doesn’t remember their father as a fall down drunk. When I showed up for my first meeting, I wished for a lot of things out of sobriety. No more hangovers, no more of those looks people give wet drunks when they think they aren’t looking, no more tears from my kids when I went off over some little thing just because I was coming out of my own skin. I wished for all sorts of things.

But to have my daughters not even remember their father as the *** hole I used to be, that one never even occurred to me.

And tonight, I am going to tell God thanks for gifts I’m not even wise enough to ask for.

On the road to the good stuff,
Richard

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rich, that also brought tears to my eyes. im really kinda speechless, i just have to comment on how beautiful the entire situation is. just, bless you and your family. bless your sobriety.

mel