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This is the first comic I drew about my sobriety. I was very keen on measuring the passage of time in days. The program I was a part of had 28, 90 and 365 day challenges and counted for you. There is something quite satisfying about counting the days to a goal (I totally get people who mark physical calendars with big Xs over each day).

I liked the idea of making a comic out of a pretty basic joke. The joke holds a lot of meaning to me and it’s way deeper than just being sassy about new parents. Although, I do find it confusing, pretentious and annoying when parents refer to their baby’s age in days, weeks or months, especially if it’s been more than a year. Fuck off already, your kid is a year and half, not 19 months – nobody wants to do that math.

However, I am not one to talk and here’s why…I was maybe (just a tiny) bit obsessive with the counting, it seemed like every day was a huge victory early on. “A week without booze!? How did I manage that? What did I even do on Friday and Saturday???” “Wait….have I gone an entire month on the wagon? Physically I feel amazing! I’m so darn proud of myself!” I was so stoked I thought the world should be throwing me a daily parade. Of course those in my online sobriety group were super supportive and basically did. I was a little out of touch with reality and figured everyone should be singing my praises all the time. It’s crazy how my brain narrative can be so focused on something so friggin often I can barely think about anything else, but from the outside no one can really tell. It’s kind of like having your first crush in junior high and the person of your affection doesn’t even know you exist…I forget the world (and especially my husband) can’t feel my aurora of success and craving for a high five all. the. time.

It got to the point where I’d have to hold in wanting to bug the husband every few days with a “Hey, guess how many days I’ve been sober??” He was very sweet about it, but did ask me to stop until it was a milestone number*. 

*Note 69 is a milestone, because it’s hilarious. All other numbers besides 100, 200 and 365 are not.  

Another thing I thought was weird, but would be so rad was, I secretly wanted to go through a police check stop so I could have this specific interaction:

*Cop* “Good evening Ma’am, when was the last time you had a drink?”

*Me (barley able to contain my excitement at his question)* “284 DAYS!!”

*Cop* ………………….wtf.