Namaste babes!
It is lovely to be able to catch up on how everyone is doing. Hippy you are so right about the reality of having to face things without a drink, and I only know that drinking didn't ever make the problems go away. Even if I had enough to blot them out for a while they were still there the next morning - and had to be contemplated with a hangover.
JWN I hope your df recovers well and soon. About 18months ago my dm and df were both ill at the same time and I spent my time taking them to hospital appointments, doing their shopping, looking after them etc and I suddenly felt that I had moved into a very different phase in my life. Fortunately they both recovered from those particular incidents, but I have become very aware of how fragile their stability is, and how much of an impact their age and health will have.
Welcome to ILBB I empathise with your description of the cyclical process of drinking, drinking more, kick up the arse, cutting back, drinking, drinking more....... This is the longest time that I have ever managed to keep my promises and good resolutions, and I am fidning that in general it does get easier. On Sunday night I was in the company of many people who were partying - people were coming up too close to me and breathing their beery fumes all over me, they were getting louder and louder, and I could hear several making 'excuses' for having another drink. It was like watching a film of myself and none of it made me want to join them. It made me feel very, very glad that (for that day) I had decided not to drink.
Hoping that Moomin and Christi are OK. Please come and speak to us.