Old Haunts

Today I am grateful for safe travels and time with my siblings and extended family over the weekend, and for my husband Darcy doing the driving. 

Sometimes when I travel to the area where I grew up, I don’t even think about the bar that was my old haunt. This past weekend, while Darcy put gas in our vehicle and then put it through the car wash, I could look down the street and see that bar. It will remain nameless here, but it has the same name it had back in the day. 

It was good to have the reminder of my drinking days, and of the importance of my recovery days. Beer was 35 cents a tap at that bar in the late 1980’s. I drank there before I was of legal age. I can still tell you the numbers to a couple songs on the jukebox back then: #148-Billy Squier's "My Kinda Lover" and #119- Autograph's "Turn Up the Radio." 

My drinking career was relatively short. It spanned ten years, but I drank a lot in those years. My consumption easily surpassed my spending. In high school, a couple bucks at a kegger and I got my money’s worth and then some. In terms of self-worth though, I went bankrupt. 

So I sat in our vehicle on Saturday and gratefully pondered the impact and importance of recovery. I felt humbled and grace-filled as I considered the many people who have supported me in this effort, and the Great Spirit and Friend who continues to guide me when I don't get in my own way.  

That old haunt is in my past. Recovery is in my day today. Onward!