Time flys by!

Well, I just freak out how the years are flying by and I only notice when a milestone comes up. Today I have 13 years of being sober. It freaks me out every year. Drinking was so important for me and my whole life revolved around it. I started drinking when I was 13 years old and I still remember that first drink and what it did for me. From that first drink I drank till I quit at 27. I remember walking home from a baseball game(at the time i was a sports nut) when I ran into some classmates(Burford and David) they told me how they had a bottle of Everclear and Jack Daniels and asked if I wanted to booze it up. I agreed and we walked to a corner store and got a 32oz of sprite and mixed it with Everclear and my journey began. I love what alcohol did for me; it was a blast as if I was freed from a cage.(once I started drinking I lost all interest in playing sports) My drinking was awesome at first I had many good years of parting with friends and good memories, but I could never figure out why my friends would stop drinking and I just wanted more. I would drink till I passed out and I was usually the last one up still drinking. I could never figure out how someone could just a have a few beers and stop.(still perplexes me!) Once I started drinking I didn't stop! I remember the horror of waking up in the morning and having to check to see if my truck was wrecked. My biggest fear was that I would kill someone while driving drunk. I once drove from Corpus Christi to Houston in a complete blackout. (3hr drive) This is what lead me to stop drinking.(Up to this point I had lost my wife close to losing my job.) Now I tried for a year to quit, but I just couldn't stop drinking and driving. Till this point I had never gotten a DWI, but I had some fender benders and never got caught. So I could feel my luck was running out and disaster was coming. The last day I drank was June 8 1997. That day I was very upset and drove to few churches looking for help, but I couldn't find a priest or a preacher. I went home and called my mom I was crying and explained I couldn't stop drinking. She told me to kneel down and ask for help. I did and at that exact moment the room went bright white and I felt so safe and at peace. The next day I went to my first A.A meeting and have been sober ever since. Till this day I still chase that feeling of complete peace that I experienced that day. I don't know if I will every feel that again, but I know I won't be able to if I am drinking. Anyways more that I had planned to write, but it just came out. Sorry for my writing. lol