Progress Not Perfection

The Joys of Sobriety, Taking my Son to College In a week I will be taking my oldest son to college. I am so proud and excited for him. Touring colleges around the state of NJ over the last two years, we both fell in love with Rider University. A small private school in Lawrenceville, NJ with a small intimate campus.  My son has a brilliant mind, but he was a lazy student.  Despite having high test scores, his grades were not the best and I was worried he would have limited choices. I was happier than he was when we learned he was accepted to Rider. I know I will be a little sad and a little nervous when I drop him off. It seems like only yesterday I watched him graduate from Kindergarten. Now he is off to college. But this one of the benefits of sobriety, watching my kids grow up. I am not concerned he will repeat what I did myself at his age.  When my father dropped me off at West Virginia University in 1987, I went out looking for a party as soon he le...

My grandiose plan during my drinking days was to become a best-selling author.  That was my dream. Of course, I did more drinking than writing, but I always talked a good game. My idol was the lead singer of The Doors, Jim Morrison. Besides being the frontman of one the 60s biggest rock bands, he was also a poet and alcoholic.  I patterned my drinking career on his life. His death at 27 (from drinking) didn’t faze me. I was the same misunderstood genius he was. I wanted to be exactly like him. Trying to keep up with such legendary drunk was hard work. My efforts certainly contributed to my brief by intense drinking career. I was not built to be the type of drunk I aspired to be. My depression was too big of an obstacle to overcome to reach the heights to be a professional alcoholic.                My drinking buddies were concerned when they heard I got sober. Of course, they didn’t think I...

  "And acceptance is the answer to all my problems today. When I am disturbed, It is because I find some person, place, thing, situation -- Some fact of my life -- unacceptable to me, And I can find no serenity until I accept That person, place, thing, or situation As being exactly the way it is supposed to be at this moment. Nothing, absolutely nothing happens in God's world by mistake. Until I could accept my alcoholism, I could not stay sober; unless I accept life completely on life's terms, I cannot be happy. I need to concentrate not so much on what needs to be changed in the world as on what needs to be changed in me and in my attitudes." Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition p. 417 I recently returned from a vacation in the Outer Banks. Going away on holiday is new to me. I rarely took them in the past. Staycations were more my speed. Being away from home caused me more anxiety than any trip was worth.  My girlfriend has helped show me the erro...