Nine Months Sober — Full Circle

8.8.25

Tonight was my nine-month sobriety birthday, and I spent it exactly where I was meant to — at the alumni meeting. Total coincidence it fell on this night, but it felt right.

I sat in that room and listened to a friend provide the perfect topic of similarities and differences between all of us. I couldn’t help but look inward and compare myself between November 8th and August 8th.

Same building.
Some of the same friends.
Many new friends I’ve made at alumni meetings.
And strangers who, just like me once, might be taking their very first shaky steps toward a new life.

I’m still an alcoholic.
Still cracked in a few places.
Still very much a work in progress.

But I’m not the same woman who walked in here nine months ago.

This morning, I looked at my intake photo. My eyes were dull, my face was puffy, my soul looked…tired. Dead, even. And tonight, I sat there — alive.

God, I’m so fucking glad I chose to live.