I have always been a person who marked life events with something tangible. It could be as simple as a new dress, a book to remind me, a souvenir of somewhere I visited. When I looked at the items I have collected, I would be taken back to the event or place and remember.

Sobriety is marked often with coins, and I have many. For me though I have marked the change and growth I have found in being sober with jewelry. My great grandfather was a jeweler and I worked in jewelry stores in college. I thought about becoming a jeweler myself once.

I wanted to mark my journey in sobriety and spiritual growth. When I had one month without drinking, I bought a hollow gold bead and put it on a chain. It was a way to mark the month and I wanted another bead, so it helped me stay sober that month and the month after and the one after! I bought another one each month until I was sober for two years—24 gold beads. I loved my necklace and wore it often.

After the two years, I changed what I did to mark my days and months of sobriety. I marked the years instead of the months, often with some simple jewelry. Some years it was something like a ring that had inlays of turquoise that matched the number of years I had and one year it was a ring with February’s birthstone—amethyst, for the month I got sober.

Years after it had been two years of sobriety, I was sitting in a meeting one day. I was excited to share that I was having a yearly anniversary. While I was waiting to speak, I noticed that I was wearing the necklace with 24 gold beads. Tears came to my eyes. It was my time to speak. “I am celebrating 24 YEARS of sobriety today”. I told them about my first 24 months and how I had bought the beads each month, never imagining that one day at a time, one bead at a time I would have 24 years! Time takes time I had learned, and it passes in the present moments of life. Change takes time and I found I had arrived in that place by learning, and sharing, and making and keeping the changes that would support my sober spiritual journey.

I started to buy beads again and have bought a bead for every year that I have continued to not drink one day at a time. Now my necklace has 34 beads on it. The gift of sobriety is all the moments I have connected to spirit and been able to share my sobriety with others. Thank you.

This is an excerpt from my book God Shots, Libbie S.