The Thrill Is Gone

"One reason I don't drink is that I want to know when I am having a good time."
-Lady Astor

I was out last night to hear a friend play with his band. They had a really cool sound and it was a really cool setting: a hip bar with exposed brick and dim, cozy lighting to set the mood. Lots of posters on the wall for other bands, some local & some not. Folks sipping on their Bud Lights, pints of Blue Moon and glasses of Makers with a splash of coke.

I was sipping on diet soda, and I couldn't have been happier.

Today makes eight months and six days of my sobriety, and I am slowly learning I'm not the only one with this cross to bear. Us drunks all take a different path to get where we are, but we all end up in one of two places: an AA meeting, or in the ground.

I myself decided I wanted to spend a few more days on God's green earth, and I figured that wasn't going to happen if I kept drinking my martinis. Or my Absolut and tonics. Or my Makers and Cokes. Or my merlots. Or my Miller Lights. Or my Chamobord and sodas. Or my Quervo shots.

You get the picture.

Thank God I'm not alone in this challenge. There are 14 million alcoholics in the world, over 2 million of which are members of AA.


Tobey Maguire says he is a member of Alcoholics Anonymous.

Dave Letterman has been sober for 15 years.

George W. Bush says he got sober when he found Christ.

I guess you could say I've got some good company. And the great thing about all these examples is that they're all really successful people (political differences aside.)

Besides, it's way better being able to remember what happened the night before. I don't have to make those inquiry phone calls, trying to read the reaction from my friends whether I was a jackass the night before.

And I don't have to make as many trips to the recycling center.