Morning Lovely Babes and Blokes,
JWN if you are off to Beds you will probably pass by the vicinity of the Gee home, so I shall wave intermittently out of the window just in case... 
I also loved the 'polishing a turd' line!!
It is true though, my skin is much better since I stopped the boozing. I didn't lose much weight because I had intense sugar cravings for erm, 2 months (or is that just me being a pig and nothing to do with drink?). But I did lose the bloated tummy and people have said that my face is thinner (although I had a Very Fat Face before - think Moonface from Enid Blyton). Also I had the worst eczema on my eyelid (ouch) which had been there for three years (since pg with DD). Nothing cleared it and now its gone.
And I feel calmer about life. More in control. More able to take the shit and think that the good is deserved. I feel less horrible and useless.
I once heard a friend talking about ending a particularly nasty, complicated relationship and she had the motto "no new contact = no new pain". And something about no contact not opening up the gates to heaven but releasing her from hell. I sometimes think that our relationship with drink is the same. Life will not automatically be great (something I really struggled with - I thought it should!) but it does take away a whole heap of shit from life.
And forgiveness has to be part of that. The further you move away from the booze, the easier it is to see the decisions you made in the past as coming from someone who was ill, hurting and who needed help. Not just someone who fucked up or was unworthy.
We are all ill, hurting and need help to get through this. We make mistakes but its not a reason to beat ourselves up, its just part of this journey (its not meant to be linear for everyone). We are all worthy - of love, kindness and sobriety.
So lets give ourselves a break for today. No drinking = no new pain, hangover, shame, self loathing.