Touched By Grace

In 1996 I celebrated two birthdays on June 26--my natal birthday and my AA birthday. I date my sobriety not from the date of my last drink but from the date of my last drunk which started on my birthday in 1961. The owner of the winery where I worked and whose girlfriend I was threw a big party every year on his birthday and hundreds of people came and brought presents, so I thought I should have a big birthday party too, and I sent out hundreds of invitations by mail and by word of mouth. The day of the big party arrived and nobody came. To this day I don't know why--whether it was because I had given out the wrong date or whether my boss sent out counter invitations telling his friends not to come. I think it was the latter since he was trying to get rid of me because I was drunk all the time.