Of course the "tradition" is supposed to be sort of a surprise where the person celebrating an anniversary is invited to come to the corporate office for a meeting. But usually everyone knows what's going on. So it's really not a surprise at all. But we try to act surprised anyway.
This tradition has been going on for as long as I can remember. And it serves a wonderful purpose. Because it helps to those who are new to the program give recognition to those who have stayed sober and clean for a period of time: usually for a year or more.
Although the anniversary of my 29 years of sobriety was the 14th of this month, we celebrated the occasion today – at the end of the work week. Another fellow also celebrated his birthday at the same time. So I believe – for the sake of saving time – we now celebrate everyone's birthday on Friday of each week.
Another reason we select Fridays is that is when managers usually come to the office to turn in paperwork and pick up their change banks. So usually there are at least a dozen people in attendance.
While sobriety is its own reward for most of us, it is still nice to have a small crowd of sober people seeing us receive a sobriety chip. And also to enjoy a slice of the cake that comes with each celebration.
Once the candles are blown out each celebrant gives a brief talk about how he or she stays sober and how the program has benefited them. Then, one day at a time, we began working on our next year.
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Click here to email John
