Today was once again “chip” day. In other words anniversaries for the month of March. As I sat there and saw all these people, going up and getting the chip for their time in sobriety, my mind was forced back to my first anniversary. My one year.
And every time I go back there, the same thing comes back to mind. And that was about my first meeting in this program. Because on that night an old timer got up and read from the Jan. 6 page of the Twenty-Hours a Day book. And on that page it tells us that keeping sober is the most important thing in my life. And the rest of that short paragraph keeps emphasizing this. And it finally asks if I can ever afford to forget that even for a minute.
I have never forgotten that moment and what was read. In fact, because for a long time in here I never knew anything about celebrating our anniversaries, I didn’t even think about the night I came here. Did not know the date. And the old timer, who read that message that night, came up to me and told me I should go ahead and choose that date he had read, Jan 6. That was the month I came in and it was probably close.
Yet it was the reminder of how important my sobriety is to me. I never ever want to forget that. It not only saved my life, it gave me a new way of life. Free from alcohol and always on the way to a better way of living than before. Like the BB tells me, I was given a new freedom and a new happiness. No doubt about it. And I have been given much more that just that.
As I sat there listening to the celebrants, all these thoughts came to mind. And there I was, like all these people, thinking about staying sober a day at a time. And like them I was filled with gratitude for all I have been given. Grateful to my Higher Power and all these people who have contributed so much to help me stay sober…one day at a time.