Sober for 1000 days

I start drinking as I turned 20.
Ten years later I realized, that my behavior around alcohol is special. I saw, that I always drunk more than others. I had my first blackouts. Mornings without memories of the last hours of the evening before. I think, that experiences were a milestone. I saw that I’ve tried several times, to adjust my behavior, but that never lasting for a long time.
In this time, I was married, had two children and make a good job. Never, I came too late, or forgot a meeting. No, I did my job and yes, that gave me the approval, to have a drink in the evening. I never drunk before evening in this period.
But with 30, it was the first time, when I was honest enough to me. I’ve checked the reality, I’ve made all the tests I’ve found in the web and the result was clear: I am an alcoholic. And I need help.
I stopped boozing from one day to the other. And I went to the Anonimous Alcoholics. That was a very good decision and a worthwhile experience.
Despite I wasn’t a stereotypical alcoholic, loosing his job, his family and so on, i recognized me, within the stories the others told.

I did my first alcohol withdrawal. It’s too far away to remember how it felt. At this time, so I remember, it was hard to explain my sobriety to others. I loose the interest in parties with befriended families, events and so on. I prefer to stay at home. And of course, I had the job to fill the sparetime. I began with jogging. That helped.

After one year, I stopped my meetings at the AA, thankfully. Looking back: It was extremely helpful to visit one or twice the week the group.

I was sober for 3.5 Years. And I felt good. There was no reason to me, to start again.
But once in vacation, we were in a French restaurant and I didn’t resist the obligation, to drink a glass of white wine. It seemed very unpolite there to say no and I was sure, after the 3.5 years, that this can’t be a problem.

I was wrong.