Times are A-changing

Around the same time last year, we spent an unforgettable night at Trelli’s where I got to meet Ethel, Jill, and Jaja for the first time. That was the time when unmistakable bonds, ties that would eventually define the rest of the year for most of us, began to take shape. Who could forget the historic session at Pork Barrel where we met Mabs, Nicole, and Tat-c (again courtesy of Ethel) and the alcoholic romps that followed? It was also around that time when Alcoholics Anonymous was informally formed: what started as an end-of-the-year mini-celebration infamously ended as the night when Nolan and I spent eight hours drowning a case (that’s 24 bottles to the uninformed) of San Mig Light.

Yes, 2007 had been the year of the binge, the year of lost and revisited youth, the year of broken bridges and orphaned roots. We drowned our sorrows in alcohol and we numbed ourselves in the ecstasy of beer. We barely escaped death in the mountains of Cinco Picos but we never lost our lust for adventure. We made new friends and we lost some too. We lived, we laughed, and we moved on. In 2007, we were men of the world.

Only a year has passed, but if one looks at who and what we are today, it will seem like it has been a lifetime. I have not had a sip of alcohol in two weeks, and I’m not really looking forward to having one in the near future. As Nolan so elegantly put it, “there is life beyond alcohol.” And we have, indeed, gone beyond the fleeting pleasures provided by beer and everything that comes with it. We began the year seeking a more substantial and permanent form of happiness; who would have thought that we will be lucky enough to find it?

One year has passed. We are not only a year older and a year wiser; we are also infinitely happier.