# I have been sober for 20 years!!!
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-been-sober-for-20-years/399140
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [April 7, 2007, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-been-sober-for-20-years/399140 "2007-04-07T23:09:42Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@hlanelee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hlanelee)
#### Post date: [April 7, 2007, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-been-sober-for-20-years/399140/1 "2007-04-07T23:09:42Z")
Thursday marked a personal milestone for me. On April 5, 1987, I woke up in jail, in the drunk tank, and I determined that if I did not stop drinking I would die.
On April 4, I got up around eight in the morning and started on the remains of the six pack I had left on the table from the night before. By noon, I had driven to town to the liquor store and bought a liter of Old Overholt. Someone told me that there was a big to-do down at the beach, so I began an epic journey. The trip to the beach was about sixty miles, so I had to have had a couple of stiff drinks during the drive.
I don’t remember much about the beach except that I couldn’t find anyone I knew and ended up at a bar. I probably showed my ass because I had been drinking heavily for well over twelve hours and I frequently showed my ass when I got drunk. I remember that I made a decision to go home early and take the back roads home. I think that the other car must have backed out in front of me, but there were four occupants in that car and I was the only witness for the defense. I think my brakes might have failed but I didn’t mention that to the arresting officer (I had fixed my own brakes the week before and alcohol was involved then, too). There wasn’t a road-side sobriety test, I remember the officer told me where to stand while he talked to the other witnesses then he told me to get in his car and we went to jail. My BAC was 0.20 and the time of arrest is stated at 11:10p.m. (I had the ticket laminated, a keepsake). I’m not sure of the timeline but i’m sure a police officer could not have respnded in less than an hour and it must have been a 45 minute trip to the jail so I must have hit the other car about 9:30. That’s when I quit drinking.
When I woke up the next morning I took stock: no one was dead, I frequently did things that I did not intend to do when I drank, I had now totaled three of my personal vehicles drinking and driving, Dad had died drinking and driving five years previously, his mother had died of cirrhosis of the liver a few years before him, if I did not STOP drinking I would likely die an ugly, alcoholic death. In my way of thinking, there is no point in drinking if you are not going to get wasted, I quit. I was about 16 when I started drinking seriously, I was 24 years old when I quit.
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### Author:  [@Caridwen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caridwen)
#### Post date: [April 7, 2007, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-been-sober-for-20-years/399140/2 "2007-04-07T23:12:20Z")
Congratulations!! That’s quite an accomplishment and something to be proud of.
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### Author:  [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)
#### Post date: [April 7, 2007, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-been-sober-for-20-years/399140/3 "2007-04-07T23:22:41Z")
I’m very happy for you.
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### Author:  [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)
#### Post date: [April 7, 2007, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-been-sober-for-20-years/399140/4 "2007-04-07T23:30:05Z")
Glad you’re still around.
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### Author:  [@Aioua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aioua)
#### Post date: [April 7, 2007, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-been-sober-for-20-years/399140/5 "2007-04-07T23:32:10Z")
I’m also 20 years sober… but on April 5th, 1987 I was all of 5 weeks old 😃
Congratulations!
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### Author:  [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)
#### Post date: [April 7, 2007, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-been-sober-for-20-years/399140/6 "2007-04-07T23:35:30Z")
Congrats!
twicks, another old-timer
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### Author:  [@Kythereia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kythereia)
#### Post date: [April 7, 2007, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-been-sober-for-20-years/399140/7 "2007-04-07T23:47:12Z")
Congratulations! You have my admiration with all my heart. 🙂
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### Author:  [@Spezza](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spezza)
#### Post date: [April 7, 2007, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-been-sober-for-20-years/399140/8 "2007-04-07T23:50:05Z")
Good show.
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### Author:  [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)
#### Post date: [April 8, 2007, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-been-sober-for-20-years/399140/9 "2007-04-08T00:20:56Z")
Congrats, old timer!
How’d you do that?
QtM, still a few 24 hours short of being an old timer. Meanwhile, it’ still ODAAT.
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### Author:  [@Mama\_Tiger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Tiger)
#### Post date: [April 8, 2007, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-been-sober-for-20-years/399140/10 "2007-04-08T00:53:48Z")
Congrats, from Mama T, another oldtimer! It only gets better from here!
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### Author:  [@Rysdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysdad)
#### Post date: [April 8, 2007, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-been-sober-for-20-years/399140/11 "2007-04-08T00:58:51Z")
Bravo, sir!
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### Author:  [@Moirai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moirai)
#### Post date: [April 8, 2007, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-been-sober-for-20-years/399140/12 "2007-04-08T01:18:27Z")
Congrats! Thanks for walking before me.
Say- what constitutes an old timer these days?
Deb, who just celebrated 16 years in March
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### Author:  [@Mama\_Tiger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Tiger)
#### Post date: [April 8, 2007, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-been-sober-for-20-years/399140/13 "2007-04-08T01:55:48Z")
I always hear it was 20 years, but once I hit 20, it seemed like the bar should definitely be set at at least 30 because I sure didn’t feel like an oldtimer. Now I’ve hit 30 (8/7/76), I figure oldtimers should start at 40! 😃
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### Author:  [@Quiddity\_Glomfuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quiddity_Glomfuster)
#### Post date: [April 8, 2007, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-been-sober-for-20-years/399140/14 "2007-04-08T01:56:34Z")
Fantastic! Good on ya 🙂
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### Author:  [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)
#### Post date: [April 8, 2007, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-been-sober-for-20-years/399140/15 "2007-04-08T02:03:20Z")
Quite a success story.
Good on you!
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### Author:  [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)
#### Post date: [April 8, 2007, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-been-sober-for-20-years/399140/16 "2007-04-08T02:26:57Z")
[QUOTE=EJsGirl]
Say- what constitutes an old timer these days?
[/QUOTE]
In the circles I run in, it’s achieving 20 years.
My sponsor (an old timer) says the secret to becoming an old timer is 3fold:
1. Go to meetings.
2. Change your whole f\*\*\*ing life.
3. Don’t die.
😃
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### Author:  [@Autolycus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Autolycus)
#### Post date: [April 8, 2007, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-been-sober-for-20-years/399140/17 "2007-04-08T02:46:17Z")
Congrats! And many more.
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### Author:  [@Lynne\_kilii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynne_kilii)
#### Post date: [April 8, 2007, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-been-sober-for-20-years/399140/18 "2007-04-08T02:49:44Z")
How fantastic! Congrats.
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### Author:  [@Mangosteen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangosteen)
#### Post date: [April 8, 2007, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-been-sober-for-20-years/399140/19 "2007-04-08T02:49:54Z")
Congratulations!!
I stopped drinking when I was 14 years old.
Three cans of Old English 800 was enough for me.
I haven’t had a drink since and I just turned 54.
Wow, I guess that’s 40 years.
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### Author:  [@hlanelee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hlanelee)
#### Post date: [April 8, 2007, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-been-sober-for-20-years/399140/20 "2007-04-08T03:11:06Z")
[QUOTE=Qadgop the Mercotan]
In the circles I run in, it’s achieving 20 years.
My sponsor (an old timer) says the secret to becoming an old timer is 3fold:
1. Go to meetings.
2. Change your whole f\*\*\*ing life.
3. Don’t die.
😃
[/QUOTE]
Actually, a few months into my eighth year, I was in another automobile accident. I was stone cold sober this time but it was the fourth personal vehicle that I completely destroyed and it was the only one that I didn’t walk away from. I had a traumatic brain injury and my heart stopped, they put me on a ventilator for five days. I believe that is clinically dead but no one did the paperwork and my condition improved. 😃
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