SOBER IN THE CITY

You had me at "Hello"

May 4th at 2:32PM by Sara [289 comments]

When I met with my sponsor before the meeting on my thirtieth day of sobriety, I thought I would get a card, maybe a pat on the back, possibly even a present of some sort. But, apparently, they don't hand out presents for doing what everyone else seems to be able to do on a daily basis. Not get shit-faced.

I know. I was as surprised as the next person!

"So, Sara," Thandi said, settling in beside me in the pew. "Big day, huh?"

I cringed and acted as if I was embarrassed that she'd remembered the milestone, but I was secretly thrilled that someone else recognized what a huge accomplishment not drinking for a whole month was. In fact, an achievement of such monumental proportion, would've definitely called for a toast of some sort—if it wouldn't have caused me to have to start counting days all over again.

Hello Irony, my name is Sara.

"Ah, thanks," I said, rolling my eyes. "But it's not that big a deal. I mean, I'd almost forgotten it had been a month until you just said it."

Well, that was kind of true. There had been that two-minute stretch of time when I was checking out this hot guy at the bakery that I totally wasn't thinking about the fact that it had been 720 hours since I'd felt the taste of liquor burning its way down my throat.

But seriously, no biggie.

"No way! Sara, thirty days is huge," Thandi said. "So big, that I have a gift for you."

"You didn't have to," I said.

Gimme, gimme, gimme.

I waited expectantly for a package of some sort, but Thandi made no move to produce one from a hidden spot around us. Instead, she took a hold of my hand and pumped it heartily.

"The gift of sobriety!" she said giggling and looked at me as if she were about to explode with excitement. "Now that you've got a little time under your belt, it's time to start expanding this program of yours. Starting today, I'd like you to take on a greeting commitment. Just go line up like the others and help welcome the newcomer as they arrive to the meeting. It'll start to get you focused on being helpful to other people, which is one of the best ways to ensure that you won't relapse."

"Wait," I said, taking my hand back slowly and scratching my head. "My present is that I get to show up every week and say hi to people?"

"Yep," Thandi said, still grinning like the freaking Cheshire Cat. "It's the gift of sobriety."

More like the freaking gift of germs and the common cold after shaking the hand of every freaking person who walks through the freaking church doors. The least Thandi could've done was brought me a bottle of hand sanitizer to accompany my fancy new job.

I realized that Thandi was still sitting there, waiting for my response. I attempted to mirror her facial expression and then said, "Yaaaay." I threw in a double thumbs up, in case she didn't buy my forced enthusiasm.

"Cool," she said and stood up abruptly. "Well, get out there and greet, and congrats again on thirty days! Awesome job!"

I watched her walk away and join a chattering bunch of women gathered near the front of the room. Then, I looked over my shoulder at the group of people congregating just inside the door. Greeting.

Happy thirty days to me!

With a sigh, I peeled myself off the bench and dragged myself over to the door. I tapped the shoulder of the person closest to me before I lost my nerve and forced a smile onto my face. I'm pretty sure it came across as more of a grimace, though.