I know that I am tooting my horn....but today its hard to be humble!!! It is my 7 year birthday!!!!

it's a horn worth tootin'

Congratulations Dorrie

hey dorrie...you just toot away.

Thanks Chemar and Curious. I had such a lovely day. After work I went to mty parents place for dinner. We spent the last 9 hours together reminising...when I was leaving my Mom ran out and said THANK-YOU, Doe(my nickname)...I said what for? She said for the last 7 years....thank you... for getting sober! I felt good. There was a time when we did not talk for years at a time. I never really knew them untill I got better...they are wonderful parents...I am so lucky to have them! Thanks again Dorrie

What a testimony! Thank you so much for sharing AND



KD

Dorrie

I think you should be shouting it from the rooftop period.

Thats all I have to say, except congratulations.

Donna

Congrats Dorrie!..One day at a time..

From 12 Steps and 12 Traditions

"Still more wonderful is the feeling that we do not have to be specially distinguished among our fellows in order to be useful and profoundly happy. Not many of us can be leaders of prominence, nor do we wish to be. Service, gladly rendered, obligations squarely met, troubles well accepted or solved with God's help, the knowledge that at home or in the world outside we are partners in a common effort, the well-understood fact that in God's sight all human beings are important, the proof that love freely given surely brings a full return, the certainty that we are no longer isolated and alone in self-constructed prisons, the surety that we need no longer be square pegs in round holes but can fit and belong in God's scheme of things--these are the permanent and legitimate satisfactions of right living for which no amount of pomp and circumstance, no heap of material possessions, could possibly be substitutes. True ambition is not what we thought it was. True ambition is the deep desire to live usefully and walk humbly under the grace of God."

"We have been talking about problems because we are problem people who have found a way up and out, and who wish to share our knowledge of that way with all who can use it. For it is only by accepting and solving our problems that we can begin to get right with ourselves and with the world about us, and with Him who presides over us all. Understanding is the key to right principles and attitudes, and right action is the key to good living; therefore the joy of good living is the theme of A.A. Twelfth Step."

With each passing day of our lives, may every one of us sense more deeply the inner meaning of A.A.'s simple prayer:


God grant us the serenity
to accept the things we cannot change,
Courage to change the things we can,
And wisdom to know the difference.

I just loved reading this,the part about you and parents brought good
tears to my eyes...Bless you honey Sue

Thanks Sue! There were periods of time when my parents and I did not talk because of my alcoholism...years in fact. I blamed them for so much of my problems. I felt left out and unloved when I was young. I went to an art councellor for my anxiety and panic attacks well after I got sober. We worked together for a long time. She would provoke me into panic attacks..these exhausted me but I got my ****out on the table and worked with her. I realized that no matter what, the past was the past. I saw that I needed to take responsibility for the things I had done wrong. When I got that out of the way, the resentment toward them was dramatically lessened! I began a new relationship with them. I love them so dearly. They are like my best friends. We spend much time catching up on lost time and we all enjoy making new memories and laughing together. There is nothing like family, is there?!

Congratulations on seven years of sobriety! That is an awesome accomplishment. I just lost my mom to alcoholic cirrhosis this spring... she just couldn't quite hold on to sobriety, although she made some valiant efforts and had some good runs... particularly in the last ten years.

Wishing you another seven, and another, and another, and another, etc...... !

Cara