r/stopdrinking • u/stupre1972 468 days • 1d ago

Sobriety - a cautionary tale

460 odd days ago, I stopped drinking.

460 odd days ago, my wife lost her drinking partner.

Directly or indirectly, so did her parents, my sister, brother in law and a number of friends.

Today, we have had a get together of 10 of us and what would have been a very boozy get together (historically double figure bottles of wine plus various other) has been a very gentle affair where the grand total is 2 bottles of wine and a half dozen bottles of beer.

All of that because I stopped and others followed....

So a word of caution - your (and my) sobriety can have positive effects way beyond your own little world.

Ladies and Gentlemen of the sub, I raise a glass (of hot chocolate in my case) and salute you all - Be you on day 1 or day 1000 - and say once more IWNDWYT

3.3k Upvotes

99% Upvoted

155 comments sorted by

View all comments

961

u/wediealone 1d ago

My parents have been drinking sparkling water with me at dinner instead of the usual glasses of wine because, in my moms words: they want to help me and if taking it away helps me then they’ll be right there with me. My parents are awesome. Here’s to a sober Boxing Day and near year!

8

u/thepurplepajamas 1d ago

Same with my family. My parents actually went out and bought tons of sparkling water, NA beer, NA wine, NA cocktails, etc. My mom has realized she's actually happier without alcohol as well, but I do feel bad for my dad and feel that my "failures" are preventing him from engaging with something he enjoys (expensive wine). But I think ultimately he knows this is healthier for him too.

It was a good holiday. I know I'm very lucky to have them.

3

u/wediealone 22h ago

Aw, that is so sweet and kind of your family. I didn't ask my parents to do this, they just....forwent the wine for the night? In my brain, when I was still drinking, that would be a huge let down...but they're not problem drinkers so for them it was just another Wednesday, lol.

I'm so glad to hear you had a good holiday, stranger. Have a happy new year :)