So near and yet...

Saturday is officially my last day of abstinence. However, those that have read my previous post on The Month of Living Abstemiously will know that I had two passes remaining as of last week and, indeed, I still have them. They are to be used tomorrow in a reunion with The Margarator and on Saturday at a very generous (and belated) Bar-Passing celebration at a restaurant with a steady and cheap wine list. So although Saturday is the last day of February, my final day of no alcohol is today.

It's been... strange. I have wanted to cave but haven't really been that close to doing so. I did have a couple of (disgusting) non-alcoholic beers on Sunday after footie, but that's it. Never again - it's going to be full throttle next year, no substitutes. I'm going to reflect more fully on it this weekend, but just to let you know what I have survived/struggled through without le booze, I have compiled a list of some notable occasions:

• Three days with work people at a retreat surrounded by free booze.
• One birthday party which ran lateish and had serious dancing, with a ton of people I didn't know - and my partner in abstinence using one of his passes. Luckily, though, the birthday girl and her husband are both seriously off the booze (since October, the nutters), so it wasn't too much pressure.
• A Pure Romance party. NOT what I had imagined we were doing when a friend invited us over for cocktails. But that's for another day. Note: "Romance" means the down and dirty. Interesting how and when the two are conflated thus.
• Valentine's Day.
• A day of guitar hero at my house on the long weekend (Presidents' Day).
• Schmoozing on the west coast with tons of local, yummy wine at my disposal. Sigh. Thank God we haven't attempted to get to Napa. I'd cry.

Passes used: 2/4.
Days without alcohol in February: 22.
Consecutive days without alcohol: 18.