Five years ago, my bestest (New Mexico) buddy Mat and I met in Kamp Kaseman. After a googol plus times inpatient, Mat is the first and only person I found interesting enough to keep in touch with returning to the outpatient world.

It’s been five years, and in large part through our friendship we’ve managed our individual symptoms so successfully we haven’t had a second chance to meet inpatient at Kamp Kaseman.*

Tonight, Mat, Charee (Cherry), Clare and I celebrated this fifth anniversary in a frenzy of frozen cow juice gluttony at 66 Diner. Little known to Albuquerque denizens is the Himalaya Mountains were modeled off this banana split. Truth. Huge. Gluttony!

Booya. Here’s to the next five years of my recovery journey. I’m quivering with ecstatic anticipation, and that’s not sarcasm.

*And if ever I needed the more intensive services of inpatient treatment, I would drive myself to Kamp Kaseman in the blink of a hummingbird’s eye. It is not a failure going inpatient. It is a strength. (Thanks, Dr. Yutzy)