Last night I was the designated driver for my partner, who was celebrating a big work victory with colleagues at a local bar. I was happy eating peanuts and drinking Diet Pepsi for the night and we wrapped up at around 1am. For the record, bars never temp me, because my serious drinking was always done covertly in the kitchen. Yuck. It was a good night with good laughs. On the drive home I noticed right in front of our house blue police lights. As we slowly approached, my eyes widened. Except for a high sodium level, I was clean as you could possibly be and yet I was hit with that immediate "oh shit" panic feeling that so many alcoholics have in those moments. An officer was conducting a field sobriety test on someone who was clearly intoxicated. I felt terrible for the cop who was having to deal with a stinky drunk guy and I felt bad for the stinky drunk guy because of his soon-to-be DUI. In a flash of a second later, I felt so profoundly relieved and excited because I knew in that moment that I had nothing to worry about. Nothing at all. I could have gotten out of the car and helped the police officer if he wanted my assistance. That feeling, taking place right outside my home, was surreal in the best way and totally reaffirmed the blessing of sobriety. I woke up this morning thinking of that young man and everything that must be going through his mind, and thanked HP. In a huge way.