I stopped drinking in June of 1997.  I went to AA and counted days off of alcohol. As I endured a roller-coaster of emotions day to day, sometimes hour to hour, I pretended to (and sometimes, genuinely did) enjoy my first sober summer New York City. As the hot days transitioned into cooler ones, and as I was safely past my first 90 days sober and experiencing my first sober everything, I prepared for my first holiday season – and potentially visiting my family – without my buffer and crutch, alcohol. I say “prepared for” because at the time, I wasn’t sure what I would do when the time came to fly home to visit my family.