Naoi Mbliana Déag Already

Tomorrow marks my nineteenth year of sobriety. I usually write about it every Saint Patrick’s Day, but I’m scheduled for a haircut in the morning and a skin cancer procedure in the afternoon and may not be able to get to it, so I’m posting a day early.

As I say every year — glad I quit, wish I’d done it sooner, don’t miss drinking at all, love waking up feeling fresh, life better in every way, blah blah blah. I’ll write more about the joys of sobriety next year, when I hit the big Two-Oh. I mean, what’s nineteen? Just a number, and not a very exciting one. But of course for an alcoholic staying sober, every number is important, so yay me. And if you’re on the same journey, yay you!

This year, for the first time, I gave myself a reward, a new watch, ordered from an overseas supplier two weeks ago and not expected to arrive until after St. Patrick’s. But it has arrived, lucky me, and has already been unboxed, wound, set, and worn.

If you guessed it’s Chinese, you win. It’s a Red Star Peoples’ Liberation Army Air Force pilot’s chronograph. It has a Sea Gull mechanical movement, originally Swiss and made in China under license. It’s a hand-winder, old school all the way, and though I normally don’t cotton to military fabric straps, the one this watch is on is a great match and comfortable to wear, so I probably won’t change it. At least for now.

Happy Saint Patrick’s Day!