Memorial Day- 3 Day Weekend, BBQs, and No Beer, Oh My!

Posted by Ashley Dane on May 22, 2012 · Leave a Comment 

“Each bottle on the floor
Is a soldier in the war
that was lost”
_Mark Anthony (Chocolate Genius)

When I think about important struggles and why anyone ever fights, it is for the certain liberty of something, someone. It is to maintain, at least theoretically, a liberty that a country has enjoyed up to that point, or to (again, theoretically) help create freedom for others who don’t have the ability to stop those who encroach on it.

All of us in recovery, then, are soldiers. We have fought for our own liberty and freedom from the tyranny of our disease. And, like in any battle, we have lost many. Too many. The longer anyone stays in recovery, the more staggering the number of friends and acquaintances who succumb fatally to the hell of addiction. Every time another one falls, for me, is a time that I can feel my own recovery undergo a galvanizing process. I am, every time, reminded of what we are up against, and what a cunning devil constantly hangs around with infinite patience for us to have a moment of weakness.  It is always there, and always will be. When we get cocky, it gets ready. Arrogance is like a Trojan horse for our disease. Humility is key.

However, for all that have fallen (God bless their souls) there are those of us who get to stay sober another 24 hours, and get to do it again tomorrow, and re-commit to it every day. You often hear it said “God willing, I’ll be sober tomorrow!” God is always willing. We don’t have to be one of the fallen; we get to choose, every day, to embrace our lives in sobriety.

This Memorial Day, (which for so many newcomers will feel strange, it did for me! A poolside barbeque, everyone drinking beer, and not me!) have fun and stay sober. Buddy up with another sober person, if you are venturing into tricky waters. If, like me, you get to go to an entirely sober Memorial Day, all the better! But don’t spend the “day to remember the fallen” by putting yourself on their same path.

Happy Memorial Day Weekend!