Point-Seven

*For my friend, seven years sober
got that chip! congratulations

how many times
did you roll yourself
in sheets to keep
from using anything other
than your will... 
choose not to drink
while all around you wine
flow, beer guzzle
rum, cognac the choice
and you 2,556.7 days
"clean and sober"
I know that point-7 is just
as important as 
the two thousand
five hundred
fifty six
the 84 months
of choosing to show
up in the world, alert
even if in pain
fractured in ways
you didn't imagine
could happen and still
be alive, the 365.242 weeks
of breathing sometimes
shallow, sometimes deep
of talking to yourself
or bolting from a room
to keep the clock
ticking in your favor
the 61,360.7 hours
and I know that point-7 counts
I honor you
for showing up for your life
for choosing to be sober
for showing me how
for every point-7
to come

© Valerie Bridgeman

February 27, 2013