Today, I have a track record of 2,500 days of alcohol-free hydration. In May I will celebrate 7 years of sobriety, but since I’m greeted by a day counter whenever I look at my phone, I couldn’t resist a moment of reflection. 2024 was a year of experimentation. I decided to go for the mocktail option during a handful of date nights, and even drank alcohol-free wine at church. In a moment of company-wide celebration I tasted non-alcoholic champagne. (Continue)

Introduction For years, years I tell ya, I’ve been telling myself I need to write better week notes. “Better” refers to their frequency and to a lesser extent to their content. I never seemed to have found the pace to spend my Sunday afternoons sipping tea and reflecting on the week gone by. I just noticed in my RSS feed that Rach Smith is adopting a new habit of writing Dave Rupert-inspired month notes. (Continue)

There’s a weekend-long dance workshop in town. While she’s certainly not our first house guest, the situation feels brand new. It must be the Japanese mattress we just bought, which turns our one-bedroom shoebox of an apartment into a temporary bed and breakfast (and lunch and dinner) for Anneli, the journalist from Sweden. I haven’t seen her in years. The most vibrant memory I have of her is ending a three-day stay at her welcoming, warm house, and saying to Anja: “I think I’m going to quit drinking”. (Continue)

On May 2, 2018, as we got off the plane from Stockholm, completing our visit with Anneli and Milan, I said calmly to Anja: “I think I may try not drinking for a week or so.” Nothing dramatic had happened in Stockholm. We had just returned from a midweek staying with friends in the city, followed by a couple days at a cozy cabin in the woods. It was my first time meeting these friends and they are wonderful people: two kind-hearted, curious journalists and their young daughter. (Continue)

I’m terrible at keeping it a secret: my favorite time in the week is when A works from home. We spent the past month building a home office in a one-bedroom apartment, and I’m happy about the result. Monday is Uni day for her. I find it endearing that her Statistics course is throwing her for a loop a little bit. “Work is so great!” I think to myself on Tuesday. (Continue)