Great weekend!

             My parents came down to help me celebrate my achievement of being sober for 6 months on Saturday. Turned out to be better than expected, we picked a random hike at Dobie mountain, just off the blue ridge parkway up from Rockfish Gap, which was a beautiful hike. It really reinforces what I am doing out here to have them come and be supportive and show how happy they are of the path that I am on. Take a day and do this hike though, It has a slight uphill at the end to get to the top of the mountain and we extended the hike some to have lunch at a gorgeous shelter along the AT that was one of the brightest shelters I've seen with 2 huge Plexiglas windows in the rear. Great views, great weather, Colors of the leaves were still amazing, and fantastic company always helps.

I hope my mom likes this picture, hehe.

           Did not ride the bike to school today because I went to the gym yesterday and might of worked a little too hard, but being sore is not a bad thing. but sitting at school for 7 hours in between classes might just drive me insane for the next 4 weeks. I thought it would give me a chance to get ahead in homework but it seems that I can not remote connect to the computer I need back in Richmond because of the network here at school. man, that might mean that I have to go to the library....

          Getting back to the gym has also been a high priority for me since I am no longer drinking I have had to find other methods to make myself tired enough to fall asleep. Started going to a climbing gym (I think I've already mentioned this) that has a pretty decent weight room as well. Now I'm not a huge fan of lifting weights because I feel like there has to be a way to do the same maneuvers in the real world but I had been finding my strength lacking lately. Which is not too surprising to me because the only exercise I had been getting for the last 2 years was lifting a bottle of whiskey to my lips. After moving to Charlottesville and riding more though I started to notice muscles that weren't there before and it has made me want to become more fit. 

           I am extremely glad that I had a milestone to reach this week though, I do not know if it was the cold weather or having watched Flight with Denzel Washington but whiskey has crossed my mind a couple times. It's funny though because when I think of drinking I can still taste whiskey. I find myself asking questions in my head about if I Want to drink or if i will ever drink again and there has been some doubt which I really dislike. I think that the urge to drink will always be there, but I believe that the key is to have the willpower to put it together that I have worked so hard to stay sober and to know that as soon as I take one drink all of my thinking patterns will be shifted and I wont stop. I don't know if I am "afraid" to drink again, I think its more of knowing that I can not let myself get back to the way that I was and the best way I know how to do that is to abstain from having anything to drink. I am mentally strong enough to know that I cant, I mean I am able to go to the bar or to a party and not drink, most alcoholics cant even think about doing something that enticing without being tempted at all. Being sober for this long is one of the best things I have ever done in my life, I would not of made the moves to be where I am right now if I had not put it down. It has made me think though, why am I like this? The say that it runs in your family and that with alcoholic parents your'e pretty much guaranteed to be one but neither of my parents are alcoholics and no family members of mine are either. Haha I guess I got "Lucky." I feel more lucky to have figured it out this early in life and been smart enough to correct the problem instead of chalking it up to being young and saying everyone goes through that stage. 

         Enough about me, Have a Great Day! It is gorgeous outside!