Ping!!!!
Rob, congratulations!!
I've known Bill W. for twenty -one years, eleven months and nineteen days, one day at a time.
In my case, AA saved my life.
I had to lose everything I had including my wife, kids, home and job before I would admit that I was powerless over alcohol.
I was in the process of trying to kill myself when a kind, loving woman intervened and AA came to my rescue.
I was literally carried to my first AA meeting in Singapore, and two weeks later God lifted that burden off my shoulders. That sweet, clean wind that Bill W. speaks of, blew through my soul, and the desire to drink has never returned.
There's been LOTS of good advice given on this thread, and I'll add just a little more:
Drinking to an alcoholic is not the problem, any more than the temperature of a person with the flu is the problem.
Drinking is only a symptom of the problem. Only when the drinking stops can one work on the real problems.
Any attempt to blame genetics or childhoods or physical predispositions or allergies or anything else, is a cop-out. Alcoholics drink because they want to drink, and if they can find anything or anyone to blame for their misery, they will do so.
The best ally I've found for long term, happy sobriety is absolute, gut wrenching honesty with oneself.
I would enjoy being on your ping list.