Journey onward

I was born on St. Patrick's Day. A few years ago. The last decade of my drinking, my birthday was celebrated at Griff's, which has a HUGE Paddy's Day party. I always said that 5000 of my closest friends attended my birthday party. Of course, during most of those celebrations, I was too drunk to really remember them, much less appreciate them.
Today, my most cherished birthday celebration is that of my years as a sober, recovering alocholic. I can remember and appreciate these sober years.
And that is a miracle, my friends.

todAAy i AAm grAAteful & thAAnkful

for all the wonderful gifts and comments from you guys in bloggerland

for my buds at the Eyes Wide Shut group of Alcoholics Anonymous who showed up for my little birthday yesterday

for the wonderful gestures from the folks at the 12:15pm Unity Group yesterday -- I was asked to share about my 3-year milestone and completely lost it (I snivelled and slobbered for a few seconds) when I acknowledged that Jesse (a great friend with whom I worked and drank) and Hayden (who I lived with and drank) were present in the room and had watched my incomprehensible demoralization first-hand, but they stuck with me through it all

that these days, I sometimes experience incomprehensible serenity

for the special 3-year chip given to me by my bestest friend Scott

that we have a full complement of volunteers to work the coffee bar @ Lambda for the next 12 days

that I discovered where to find reruns of GREEN ACRES at 6:30pm

Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one.
-Albert Einstein