Anyhow, today is my 1-year anniversary of sobreity, and subsequently my 1-year anniversary of entering the "AARC Family". In approximately 3 weeks I will again celebrate another anniversary, except this one will be "1 Year AARC-Free"... Say, I wonder if AA gives out keychains for that one? :razz:
Hey, I really like this idea. Let's everyone post our true anniversaries, the ones we have to look forward to. I'll start:
August 7, 2005: The third anniversary of my sobriety.
August 17, 2005: The first anniversary of the first time I felt truly safe in 2 1/2 years. (Also the first anniversary of my 18th birthday.)
August 21, 2005: The third anniversary of having been incarcerated against my will, against my rights and against the law in an abusive institution that proceeded to attempt the complete destruction of my self.
Mid-October 2005: The third anniversary of having lost all sense of self, all dignity, and all hope.
Mid-November 2005: The third anniversary of a most grotesque abuse of authority by an oldcomer. I was forced to stand in the bathroom with my oldcomer while she defecated. She proceeded to wipe herself with her hand. Then she approached me and forced her hand in my mouth.
Day After: The third anniversary of having been publicly chastised and humiliated for having spit out the water I'd had in my mouth during the incident.
Late November 2005: The third anniversary of a rape. In the dark of the AARC laundryroom where I'd been led by my oldcomer. At least three. none of whom I can Identify. Also the third anniversary of having lost the will to move, the will to fight, the will to live, the will to speak. I died inside that afternoon, and I'm still trying to get back. I can't speak anymore of that now.
December 31, 2005: Third anniversary of an escape. I walked out of a host home where the door to the bedroom had been left open and unalarmed. The door to the outside likewise. I ran as fast as I could, terrified and yet fighting against the urge to return, in bare feet. It was 3am, there was snow and I was in my pyjamas. I thought nothing, I just ran.
January 1, 2006: Third anniversary of reading a book for the first time in six months. Also, third anniversary of touching a piano for the first time in six months.
February 2006: Third anniversary of my first day at school post-AARC. I'd convinced myself (through considerable aid from AARC) that I was incompetent, unintelligent, patently lazy, and that I'd never yet accomplished a thing in my life. So I redid a full year of courses, believing that the marks I'd achieved previously at the gifted high school I'd been attending before AARC weren't good enough.
June 2006: Third anniversary of having spoken with someone unrelated to me since AARC. It took me that long to be able to speak.
June 2006: Third anniversary of my achievment of a 94% average, the second highest in my school.
July 2006: Third anniversary of the first time I'd laughed in close to a year.
Christmas 2006: Third anniversary of the first time I was able to kiss my sisters and tell them I loved them in a year and a half.
July 8, 2006: The first anniversary of having explicitly told someone of being raped. The first anniversary of breaking a destructive silence. The fisrt anniversary of choosing to never be victimized by this agin. The first anniversary of a very great anger. The first anniversary of an end to allowing this violence to continue.
