I am very grateful! And I can't remember the summer of 1991 all that clearly either!
My 20th High School reunion was in August, 1991, I went to it w/ a tad of trepidation for the way I'd behaved at my 10th. About the only people who remembered my shenanigans (or at least the only ones who had the bad manners to mention them :) at the 10th were 2 old buddies who had also had their moment of clarity in the intervening years. We remain close to this day.
I didn't see this thread when you originally posted it a year ago, Rob. I noted your use of the term 'normal drinker', and it reminded me of that passage from Chapter 3: More About Alcoholism:
The idea that somehow, someday he will control and enjoy his drinking is the great obsession of every abnormal drinker. The persistence of this illusion is astonishing. Many pursue it into the gates of insanity or death.
To this day, 18+ years later, I still don't want to 'drink like a normal person'. Never could, never did, don't see the point in it now....
And another passage from Chapter 2: There Is A Solution, that might dovetail w/ your year-ago responses to those who were uncomfortable with the thread in general:
We hope no one will consider these self-revealing accounts in bad taste. Our hope is that many alcoholic men and women, desperately in need, will see these pages, and we believe that it is only by fully disclosing ourselves and our problems that they will be persuaded to say, "Yes, I am one of them too; I must have this thing."
And I can't remember the summer of 1991 all that clearly either!