There are as many types of anniversaries as there are anniversaries themselves. There’s the date of my first marriage or any of the other marriages which followed. What about the day I started with the company I was with for 22 years? Some recognize the day in which a person died. They call it an anniversary, but I don’t think there’s any big celebration.

For myself, there is my Sober Anniversary. This one I cherish most of all. My belly button birthday is significant, but it only shows when my life process began. My sober date is most important ahead of all the others as it is when I started to live. Before August 24, 1986, I only existed. Before sobriety, I watched the clock tick my life away while waiting to find out who I really am. That August date was the start of a new journey which has turned out to be better than my wildest dreams.

My sober date can also be shared with those who are starting on the same path. Hope may be drawn from my story which is similar in many ways to every member but different and unique to me.

When it’s my turn to celebrate I will be yelling from the rooftops again this year because this date is so precious to me.